Knight of Schnee
by HaseoAsakura
Summary: Weiss Schnee had come a long way in her attempts to become a successful Huntress. All it took was one mistake to change her whole world. This mission was supposed to be simple, yet now her companion was gone and she could only blame herself. Despite her guilt, she felt oddly connected to him. Only one question racked her mind: Why couldn't she get Jaune out of her head?
1. Mission Failed

Coming back to Atlas, Weiss had her own reservations about. It spit in the face of her previous efforts of escaping her prison others called the Schnee Manor. It may have been spacious and full of luxury, but to the white haired ex-heiress, it was a monument to her father's corruption.

Such was the life of the young Schnee that she knew he was the reason she escaped. Her own will was her guide to the future and she relished the chance to forge her own destiny. She may have not joined the military like her hard working sister Winter, but at least she knew she wouldn't fall prey to her horror of a father.

Her own family were akin to wardens rather than her family. It was why she had partly envied the sisters of her team. The warmth they shared seemed different than what Winter had always shared with her. It was still love, but it seemed muted compared to how the sisters seemed to radiate the feeling.

It wasn't long after making it to Atlas, that they were brought on board to the academy. It didn't take long for Ironwood to promote them to actual Hunters and Huntresses, after they only did one mission in Atlas. While she would still ponder about that gift horse, Weiss Schnee was never one to look one in the mouth. It was because of that gift horse that she had ended up in her current situation. All because of a stupid mission.

Pale blue eyes searched the mission selection board, looking for her newest mission. While the whole team was busy, she felt it necessary to keep her skills sharp as well. After the incident in Haven, she wasn't keen on being blindsided again. The only one who seemed to share her desire was Jaune.

Ruby had gone with Penny and Qrow to take more supplies to Amity Tower, Yang and Blake had gone with Marrow to patrol the east side of Mantle, while Ren and Nora covered the west. The rest of the Ace Ops took the north and south sections of the wall. The only person available at the moment was their resident Knight. Since the schools were in their vacations, Jaune's mission of escorting the children was done for the moment.

"Jaune, how about we take up a mission together? Surely any mission we take should be easy." She could feel when his attention separated from the board onto her.

He stayed quiet, almost as if he was thinking something over. "Are you sure Weiss? You and I don't exactly have the best record in interactions. Don't get me wrong, I'm all in, it's just we haven't really spoken or done much together thanks to the whole Snow Angel thing."

While he did have a point, that was in the past, she couldn't really hold that stupid, but accurate nickname against him forever. He did save her life in Haven, so she figured it was only fair to let bygones be bygones. "Then consider this a cleaning of the slate."

His face lit up and his goofy smile appeared on his face. "Let's do this then!" Without a doubt in either of their minds, Weiss picked the first mission that she saw: Clear the Mines from Grimm. She had run that mission many times with other members of team RWBY, so this time shouldn't be any different.

The bullhead let both Weiss and Jaune down on the mine site, both of them readying their weapons as they inched closer to the mines. Jaune moved ahead of her, scoping out the location. The landing area was perfectly fine, so the Grimm had to be inside the actual mine.

As they moved in, Jaune kept his shield up. Weiss pushed him forward. It wasn't until the actual mine when they encountered the enemy. Centinel Grimm started to appear before their eyes, a small swarm of ten pushing from the ground. "Weiss, keep the flanks off me, I'll take front and center."

Weiss saw as Jaune moved forward, dealing with the Grimm much easier than before. True to his order, Weiss used her glyphs to slide past Jaune and kill the Grimm that would be too far away for his sword to hit. He really needed to look into a projectile upgrade. It didn't take too long to end up in a mine opening, almost as if waiting for them was a Manticore Grimm, much like the one that needed both Ruby and Qrow to take down.

Weiss was about to speak until she heard Jaune, "Huh… Why does this feel like a boss fight?" The Manticore shot at them with fireballs, but to Weiss' surprise Jaune stood firm and put up his shield.

"Move Jaune!" she felt herself scream just before looking in surprise as the shield activated the dust in it and reflected the fireball back at Manticore. "I'll handle projectiles and keep it distracted Weiss, use the chance to hit it!"

She nodded in agreement as she moved. Jaune was somehow more confident when on missions, it was refreshing to see the knight behave so competently. Also while he had great plans, she wasn't used to having them being called out. Ruby always preferred to trust her team, only using words to call out team attack names.

Jaune dashed forward, hitting the Manticore head on, its eyes starting to focus on him. Weiss took the moment and dug Myrtenaster into the ground, summoning her Knight. The glyph expanded, allowing the knight to enter the fight as well, leaving her able to move around at will. She took to higher ground thanks to her glyphs, getting herself in range of the Manticore. It was still too focused on the two knights to even notice the graceful accession of Weiss.

Just like before, she froze the wings, both knights taking the frozen wings as a cue to hurl their weapons, shattering both wings. With a secondary gravity glyph, Crocea Mors was shot back at Jaune, but the sword cut through only half of the Manticore's neck, leaving it alive but flailing.

With a mighty screech, it's voice seemed to reach all of the mine completely. Jaune's voice was the only other sound in the mine. "Weiss! Finish it!" Without question, she transformed her white glyph into black and had it launch her towards Jaune. As she passed by the weakened neck, Myrtenaster took the Manticore's life, using her speed and momentum. Jaune stood at the ready, his body taking the petite girl's speed and stopping her softly, even if he had to throw himself onto the ground to catch her. "You okay Weiss?" Even while slightly dazed, she nodded.

"Are you okay Jaune?" her reply seemed to catch the knight off guard. "Uh… Yeah! I'm fine!" The position they were in would certainly look romantic as Weiss was currently sitting on Jaune's lap.

However, when the mine started to fill with more and more Grimm, Arc's lap wasn't the height of her concern. Her knight, Jaune, and Weiss quickly stood back to back, not allowing themselves to be blindsided. Smaller manticore and more Centinel's watched them. Of course the single Manticore wasn't the end of it, that would have been too easy.

Jaune set his weapon into the greatsword version, the extended light shield coating the greatsword in its blue tint. All three of them charged outwards, the Armas Gigas, aiding Weiss while Jaune ran alone. Weiss had to keep using her dust to keep the hoards off of her, while her Knight tried its best to kill all it could, but there were too many to properly fight off. She was sure they would be overrun in a matter of moments. Dust knows how Jaune was handling himself, his voice could only be heard as his grunts of effort accompanied every swing of his.

The last memory Weiss could make out properly was her Knight pushing her away as Stone and Dust Geists crashed their fists into the ground, breaking the floor of the mine throwing everyone except her into the void.

Her pale blue eyes slowly flickered open, her eyes taking in the light that was much too bright for her. It would be a moment before the white roof came into focus, her ears picking up the heart rate monitor they must have her on, a slight beep occasionally reminding her of its presence. Her mouth could still taste blood, after the disaster of a mission she was on, that was natural she supposed. Her eyes flickered around the room, medical diagrams plastered on the white walls while other medical tools were hung around as well. Her body felt weak, her head pounding on itself. She struggled to move, her body feeling heavy.

With a sigh, her eyes closed. Only when the darkness had taken over, she remembered her mission. Her knight pushing her out of the way from an attack. The knight had never moved without her input, yet she was saved from a threat she never perceived. She wanted to summon it again, to see it move without her input, but with her aura nearly depleted it was difficult.

Hopefully the next day would be much better because nothing could be this bad. Or so she thought. The next day she woke up, still in the hospital bed she had been last night, only this time she felt restored. She moved her muscles around, ensuring nothing was off. She could feel the satisfying pop of her bones, her aura was full and ready for her. By all intents and purposes, she was ready to go, the only thing that bugged her was her head. It still felt like Nora had taken Magnhild to her head.

The strange taste of blood still rested on her tongue, but seeing how she wasn't cut or bleeding anymore, worrying about the blood could wait. She rose from the bed, tempering herself against her weight. When she felt right, she took a deep breath and tried to summon her knight once more. The glyph spun around in front of her like always, but this time nothing came out. It just spun and then shattered on itself.

"Oh no…" she whispered to herself as she tried it again. Just like the first time, the glyph only spun and then destroyed itself. Her eyes widened, "I need to find Winter."

Having changed into her long blue coat and her new white combat skirt that was strapped to her waist by her three belts. Knee high boots stopped her bare feet from the cold floor and despite having the time, she wore her hair in a loose ponytail much like she had in Beacon. Her legs pushed her forward, more questions forming in her head than answers.

'_Why can't I summon my Knight? Does this only affect the Knight? Can I still summon the Grimm? Should test that out later. What happened to me? Who brought me back? Last thing I recall, Jaune and I were clearing out the dust mine. Wait, what happened to him?' _

With her head still swirling with thoughts, she failed to notice her partner bumping into her. "Watch it you dolt!" she chastitied the poor reaper. Ruby recognized the remark from memory and smiled, "Weiss! I'm glad your okay! How are you feeling? You're lucky we found you!"

Weiss caught on to her words quick, "Me, I suppose I'm doing much better? What about Jaune?" The small leader turned her gaze to the floor, not meeting Weiss' eyes. Her expression fell quickly as she tried to sound somewhat chipper. "We didn't find him, he wasn't with you when we found you, but thankfully the opening from the mine didn't swallow you up!" She pulled out a cracked scroll from her own pocket, "It was thanks to Jaune's SOS signal that we were able to even arrive to help!"

Weiss nodded, taking the new information in. _'The opening at the mine?' _Almost immediately her head started to throb painfully once more. She decided against thinking about the mine for now, sticking to the subject of least pain- her summons.

"Would you happen to know where Winter is at?" Ruby shook her head, "She'll probably be in the training room I think?" Of course she would.

Her legs moved her once more, her attention more on the glyph she tried to bring back the knight. Like before, the cracks started to appear on the glyph, leading to its own destruction.

This time Ruby saw the damage and gasped as the glyph broke. "What's wrong with your semblance?!" Weiss shook her head, "I wish I knew Ruby…" The two kept searching for Winter as Weiss remembered Winter's words on her semblance,

"You must concentrate on what you want to summon, this will allow you to bring back your harshest enemies to fight for you. The Schnees have always had this semblance which allows us to channel that which has forced us to improve."

Her mind fixated itself on focusing on the knight, memorizing the shape of her first summon, trusting that all she needed was the clearest picture she could make within her own head. With her own mental practice going on, she failed to notice that the other members of RWBY had joined them, thanks to Ruby's scroll.

Blake's voice cut through Weiss' thoughts, "Weiss do you have any idea where Jaune is? You were the last person to be in contact with him." Before Weiss could answer Yang had to butt in, "Maybe he's still in Weiss' room? Finally gave lady killer a chance huh Weiss-Cream?"

Weiss opened her mouth, but no words came out as she noticed Yang's smug smile slapped on her face. With a fit of rage, she soon found her voice, "As if I would give that idiot a chance!" Yang started to open her mouth once more,"No Yang, he's not in my room! Not that I would even know… I woke up in the hospital bay." No one missed the somber note that Weiss' voice took by the end of the sentence.

Yang fell silent, her hand placed on Weiss' shoulder, her face with a sort of motherly concern, but it was lost on Weiss. She was far too focused on other things. Arriving to the training room, Winter stood in the usual spot where they would train with their summons. "Winter!" Weiss rushed over, her sister only raised a single eyebrow in regards to her sister.

"Weiss, how are you this morning?" Weiss looked into her eyes, then shaking her head softly, "The mission could have gone better, thankfully the rest last night helped. I do have a problem though, one I am sure you would know much better than I."

Winter stepped forward, her attention now focused on Weiss. "Tell me sister." Weiss nodded, bringing out her hands, in which the summoning glyph started to spin. Just like before the glyph started to crack and shattered. Winter nodded and looked at Weiss.

"Do you have another summon?" Weiss attempted her summoning again, this time focusing on the Queen Lancer she had faced before. Unlike the knight's summoning, the glyph remained and with it the Lancer appeared before Winter.

"Impressive, how did you manage to kill a Queen Lancer? With her swarm, many hunters fall prey to the lancers." "A swarm ambushed a pilot and I while I was escaping from Father, and while the pilot focused on us dodging them, I whittled the swarm down and sent my knight to kill the Queen." Winter nodded, somewhat impressed. "Okay then, I need you to focus on your knight once more. The problem doesn't seem to be in the summoning glyphs, it must be with you."

Weiss started her glyph once more for the knight. Her hands on the floor, giving the glyph the energy to bring forward the Knight she had for so long. Her eyes closed shut, letting her sense of aura guide her process. However the glyph started to destabilize once more, and Weiss could hear Winter barking out orders, "Stay focused Weiss! If you need to use more of your aura for the summon so be it!"

She focused as hard as she could on her glyph, her eyebrows getting furrowed. The glyph spun faster as Weiss' focus went from natural to forced. She could hear the rest of team RWBY gasp, never having seen the summoning process behave in this way. The cracking of the glyph stopped, slowly repairing itself. Keeping her eyes closed to focus on the Knight, she could hear Ruby's cheer, "It's appearing Weiss!"

Blake in her own fashion was encouraging her with a neutral "Keep it up!" She could also hear Yang cheering her on, but it was short lived. It wasn't only them that stopped immediately. The room fell quiet as the summoning process finished and Weiss could feel a summon in front of her. Strangely, she couldn't feel the cold metallic sensation of the knight, the emptiness that would normally accompany it.

Now she felt a small burst of warmth inside her, almost like it was coming from her own aura. Almost like her own aura was trying to comfort her. This warmth seemed familiar, but not from her own summons. While it was different, it felt safe. It felt familiar, yet so foreign. The only sound that dared to break the silence was Winter.

"That's… That's the Arc boy isn't it?" Weiss' eyes opened to a knight, bowed in front of her like the Armas Gigas would. Instead of the normal helmet of the knight, he had short spiky hair, the full body armor gone for pants and upper body armor. Instead of the two handed blade that had helped give her her scar, was a familiar sword and shield combo instead. Staring back into her pale blue eyes was a Jaune Arc, his body covered in the spectral color that the Schnee summons always have.

Her eyes widened. The Jaune's head remained bowed.

'_No… No… Why is HE here?! Why can I summon Jaune?!'_

Winter's question certainly didn't help. "Weiss, what were you thinking about when you were summoning?" Weiss' head shot back between Winter and the Jaune copy, barely uttering out her words, "My… knight."

Those words were all the trigger needed for one Yang Xiao Long, "Weiss… Since when could you summon Jaune?" HOW can you summon Jaune?"

Blake's question hit much harder to the shocked heiress, "Isn't it only supposed to summon those enemies you killed?" Ruby was left speechless.

It was only until Winter stepped forward to address the team that the shock seemed to dispel itself. "Normally, yes our semblance can bring back those that have fallen to the user, a person has never been summoned. Therefore, the same rules should not be applied to this summon."

It was those words that Ruby needed to hear apparently, now gaining the ability to speak once more, "No! Weiss wouldn't kill Jaune! There has to be another reason! Until we see Jaune in person, I don't believe he's dead!" In a storm of petals, she headed back out of the training room to Ironwood's office.

Weiss sighed as her attention returned to Winter, "Isn't there something we can do about this Winter?" Winter nodded and turned to see the summoned Jaune. "We would need to have a word sister of mine. I have rarely seen anyone summon a person, much less one who by all accounts, is still alive."

Weiss could only agree with her sister, but the questions still kept stacking themselves on top of one another. For the rest of the day, she had practiced with her sister until the day was over. All that effort for almost no results, no closer to figuring out Summoned Jaune's existence.

The only relief she managed to obtain was the news that thanks to Ruby, Ironwood had approved a special mission for them. As soon as they were ready to take off, the team would be notified by scroll. That was one mercy she supposed.

While her mind raced, a couple of questions stood out the most: Where was Jaune? Was he okay? What was that warm feeling Jaune's summon gave and why did she want more of it?


	2. Schnees Do Not Fail

Going through the extra training with Winter yielded no results, the mystery of the summoned Jaune still troubling them. Even after spending most of the day training, summoning and banishing the Knight, Jaune would still stare back at her.

It was almost saddening, seeing the Knight's face so cold and calm, it was so unlike him. Weiss stared into the empty eyes of her summon, trying to will an answer out of it.

"What happened to you Jaune? Why can I summon you?"

While the Knight refused to answer, she found herself thinking back to the actual Knight in trouble. Trouble that she had placed him in. It was somewhat ironic, usually the reckless pursuit of strength or power would kill the seeker, but this time it was most likely killing Jaune. Hopefully that blonde doof would be alive and well by the time they would arrive, smiling at them with that goofy smile of his.

A small beep of her scroll shook her out of her trance. She could feel her eyes widen as she noticed the message she had received:

**Emergency Mission: Find and Rescue Jaune Arc**

**Team: RWBY**

**Status: Ongoing**

Her mission set, she excused herself from Winter, practically dashing to her dust storage locker. Topping off the dust inside Myrtenaster, she rushed to the bullhead hangar as fast as she could. Already waiting for her was Ruby Rose, her smile as bright as it always is. "Come on Weiss! We gotta go! Time to save Jaune!"

Weiss wasted no time in boarding, the rest of her team following shortly. In a matter of seconds, Ruby informed the pilot of their mission and the bullhead took off.

Coming back to the group, Ruby assumed her position almost immediately, "All right girls, our target is bringing back Jaune, he went missing after Weiss' mission yesterday. It took longer than we wanted, but we finally got the green light to do this. Ever since we retrieved Weiss all of us started asking for a rescue mission for Jaune." While the commentary was unneeded, Weiss knew it was supposed to be to help her calm down by mentioning the support of her team.

Her silver eyes seemed to come onto pale blue, concern clearly showing on her face. "Weiss what happened in there? No one else has been in the mines since you and Jaune."

Weiss nodded, trying to remember the mission, "Somehow… The Grimm population was more than we thought. Jaune and I were supposed to take out a routine section of the Grimm. The tunnels of the mine were the same as usual. It was when we met the Manticore that the mission started to go south. Just before its death it released a resounding howl. It called other Grimm, much like beowolves do, but the call attracted all the Grimm not just more Manticores.

We regrouped and then moved forward, I had my Knight helping me and Jaune was alone. Everything seemed to happen so fast, the next thing I knew a large stone golem possessed by a Geist broke the floor of the mine dropping the surrounding Grimm near us along with it and Jaune. We had been so distracted with the other Grimm that somehow we both missed it."

With a quick nod, Ruby made their plan. "Then we start from there and spread out. If we need to, then we break up into pairs. We don't need more lost Huntsmen."

Yang smiled, her voice confident as always, "We'll find Vomit Boy, don't worry sis! He's got like infinite aura! He'll last as long as he needs to!" Blake nodded, "He does always seem to have enough aura, no matter what we go through."

Weiss smiled, realizing what they were doing. However, it would take more than kind words for her to forget that it was her fault this mission was even necessary. If she hadn't asked him to join her, he wouldn't have gone missing. When they all got back, she would have to make it up to him.

Blake was the one that shook her out of her thoughts, "Weiss, maybe you should take a quick nap while we arrive? The rest of us were resting before the mission, you were the only one actually training with that summoning, sleep for a bit to regain some of your aura. We'll wake you when we arrive."

With a quick nod, Weiss started to close her eyes, it wouldn't do to not have one's full strength during a mission. Oddly enough, her aura reserves felt full, even after the training. She chalked it up to her summoning training finally helping her conserve her aura. It wasn't long before she felt herself fall asleep.

What she saw was surreal. Her surroundings were cold and damp, yet she couldn't feel the conditions. She could hear the water dripping from dust knows where and could see her breath leave her body. She was tired, exhausted even. This confused her since she knew she was only slightly tired from her training. Maybe it was the beginning of a nightmare?

All she knew was that she had to keep moving. To stop moving was to risk being found. Found by what was anyone's guess. It was only as she fell to the ground that she could hear heavy breaths being taken, she could hear all the tell-tale signs of Grimm approaching from behind. Her fist found the ground as she forced her body to get up, each movement was slow and labored, the muscles screaming for her to stop, but a voice commanded her.

_[Get up! Come on! Move, I need to move! You stop and you die! You lasted this long!]_

The voice was Jaune's! He was alive! But why could she hear him? What was going on? He sounded so different. Her body managed to get on it's feet and started to move once more. She started to move as fast as she could, her legs only shuffling forward, barely any faster than a normal walking pace. The Grimm certainly weren't getting any quieter and looking back did her no favors as now she could tell how close they were.

She could hear the growling of Sabyr's apart from the Manticore's howls. She was forced to turn around and face the Grimm, lest she be overrun from behind. It was either fight or die running. The numerous injuries on her body were certainly not doing her any favors. Looking up, the hole from the mine incident could be seen, and like before Jaune's voice came in impossibly clear.

_[ I need to stay around this area… When Hunters come looking for me, they'll search around the hole first. Looks like I'm fighting for now…]_

He sounded tired, possibly hurt. He seemed resigned to fight, but then again any Hunter would in his situation. Jaune wouldn't really know of the rescue party coming for him. His scroll would be the only way to contact him, but it was resting in Ruby's pack. All he knew right now was the hoard of Grimm.

With a few swings of the blade, Sabyrs and Manticore fell to the attacks, but with only two sets of her heavy swings, her body started to give up on her. Her legs no longer holding her upright, she fell. A Manticore bit into her body and tossed her into the wall. Her wounds started to bleed, her legs finally giving up and her arms feeling far too heavy to move properly. She felt the aura shimmer, a warning signaling that she was one more hit away from total aura depletion. She had to do something, but what? Relying on instincts, her hand opened to use her glyphs, only for the glyphs to appear under her.

_[Weiss' glyphs? She's nearby? I don't have the energy to shout, hopefully she can find me.] _

She could hear his confusion, his voice lightening up a bit. It sounded like he was slightly hopeful. She felt the glyph wash over her, coating her in a familiar feeling. The closest thing she could identity it as was the feeling she would get from Winter. A slight coldness, but a small presence was still present.

Her wounds seemed dulled, enough to move around, but she knew that it was only a bandaid on a wound that needed surgery. The last thing she saw was the Grimm hoard once more coming for a piece of the Knight, only to have Blake shake her awake. "Weiss! What are you doing?!"

Weiss' eyes shot open, her mind reeling from what she just experienced. "What?" She noticed all of team RWBY staring at her. She studied the expressions of her team. Ruby was concerned, Yang seemed ready to strike, and Blake just looked cautious. It wasn't until she felt her glyph in her hand that it clicked in her head. They were cautious on why was she using a glyph while in the bullhead. The stranger part was that there was no summon, but she could feel the blossoming warmth that the summoned Jaune gave her, so she knew it was active.

"How long has this glyph been in my hand?" she asked. Yang was the one who spoke, "Since you fell asleep." Huh… Where had she been? She had gotten too much information for it to be a dream. There was one explanation she had…

'_Was I in Jaune's body? I know I could take control of my summons… I could jump into my summons heads, but Jaune isn't one of them! It felt… different. He was in control, and I could watch, but I could read his mind, read his emotions, it was more like I was in his head." _

Yang placed a hand on Weiss' shoulder, her concern transparent, "What happened Weiss? You're scaring us."

Weiss shook her head, her thoughts snapping back into her head. Not wanting to worry her team, she tried to brush her concerns off, "I'll be fine Yang…" Her dream came back into her head. "Are we almost there? Jaune's in trouble!"

Ruby's eyes widened, her silver eyes turning into dinner plates, "What do you mean? You fell asleep! How do you know if he's in trouble?!" Before she could answer, she was cut off.

The doors opened, revealing a setting sun that was dipping behind the mine shaft that would be their destination. The pilot's voice came across the speakers, "Girls, once the sun sets the Grimm turn more hostile, I'll be flying around the perimeter, so once you have your friend, call me and I'll pick you up. We're currently flying over the drop off zone. I can't drop you off like last time, on account of the Grimm already on the landing pad. Gods protect you girls!"

Ruby nodded and looked back to Weiss, "Answers later Weiss. Right now, we've got a Knight to save." Yang smiled and shot them a cocky grin, "Looks like this time the Princesses save the Knight!"

While Yang may have not admitted it to them, her smile quickly fell, showing her true feelings. Blake had been harder to read, but spending years with her team allowed her to see through their masks. Ruby quickly followed, turning herself into the storm of petals everyone knew her for. Weiss jumped off shortly afterwards, realizing that her landing strategy couldn't be used this time.

Whatever she had done to Jaune had managed to mitigate any damage he had and unfortunately for her Jaune needed the boost. She looked at Myrtenaster, noting how much wind dust she had stored up. She would have to either time the use of the dust just right in order to not kill herself or the less practical solution of using her other glyphs as stools, but that would eat up time. Time that Jaune didn't really have if her "dream" was any indication of his current state.

Seeing the other members of the team land, she opted to use her glyphs as her landing strategy. The rest of team RWBY didn't wait, moving forward on their own. By the time Weiss landed, her team was already clearing out the landing zone, her own landing being much smoother for it.

"Jaune should be in the opening of the mine inside! He's waiting for us there!" Ruby nodded and pushed forward, not asking about how she would have the information. With an entire team, the push into the mine was much easier, the whole team moving individually, yet no less effectively. She could feel Jaune's presence nearby, especially with the glyph still surrounding him. They were almost to him. It was only a matter of time. Weiss swore that she would scold Jaune for being rash, her Knight was too brave, too reckless for his own good. Wait… HER Knight? Where did that come from?

Manticores and Centiels started to move towards them, most likely due to their desperation at reaching the Knight, but they weren't a match for the group of Huntresses with a goal. All of them rushed to the giant room where everything started, finding what was a small hoard of the Grimm. All of them were focused on the commotion. Sounds of grunts and pained gasps could be heard from said hole.

Blindsiding the Grimm had been so easy with their attention focused on the pain riddled man fighting for his life inside the crater. Blake was the one who called out for Jaune, "Jaune! Can you move!"

All they could hear was a slight groan.

Looking into the opening, they quickly locked on their targets. Most of the team focused fire on the Grimm they could see surrounding a shining Knight. After a few moments, Yang took a turn, "Jaune! Move away from the Grimm, we'll give you cover!"

Weiss banished the summoned Knight and instead brought out the Queen Lancer, ready to fly. However, the change in her summon killed the connection she had with the Knight, meaning whatever he had received from her was gone. Along with that the warmth she once felt was also gone, not that Weiss noticed during the chaos currently happening. Ruby called out to her teammates, "Weiss, can you and Yang drop down? Collect Jaune and fly back up!"

Both of the girls nodded and jumped onto the Lancer, both Blake and Ruby still firing round after round into the hole. The inside was damp and dark, hardly any color coming from it. However, Weiss recognized the area, having been already in it before somehow. With every shot fired from the girl's weapons a glint of gold alerted them to Jaune's location, his chest rising and falling quickly, his short, ragged breaths doing nothing to brighten their moods.

Without a word, Yang jumped off the summon and landed next to Jaune. "Hang tight Vomit Boy, you'll be safe soon!" While Yang moved quickly, Ruby and Blake continued their supporting fire, constantly killing any Grimm that they deemed too close.

With a small groan from the blonde's direction, Weiss noticed that Jaune was being carried in a bridal carry. "Weiss can you do something to stop them? We need to move!"

With a nod of her head, Weiss pointed her rapier at the oncoming wave of Grimm, an ice wall blocking their way. Even though it started to crack from the Grimm's assault, Weiss' attention was focused elsewhere, watching Yang and by extension the injured Jaune climb onto her Lancer. Almost immediately after, all three of them flew back up to the ground, leaving the hoard of Grimm behind. Noticing the rising Lancer, Blake called for the pilot to come back. Jaune groaned softly as Yang kept him steady during their flight.

They could all hear the roar of the bullhead's engines outside of the mine. All they needed to do was get back to the ship and the mission would be a success. When the Lancer rose out of the hole, Blake and Ruby jumped on, the whole team flying away on the summoned Grimm.

The sounds of gunfire was the only thing that could be heard on the Lancer as each girl did their best to ward off any incoming Grimm. Their exit was much faster thanks to their Grimm taxi, but that left the wide open entrance of the mine to cross before they could set foot on the bullhead home.

Said bullhead landed several meters away from them, the pilot clearly fearful for his own life. Weiss pushed the Lancer to go as fast as possible, only for the entire team to come crashing down as a giant fireball hit them. Several Manticores were standing on the mine's rocky surface, stalking them.

Several grunts of pain could be heard as the team hit the floor, but what worried them all was the shattering of aura that could be heard. The only protection the weakened Knight had faded, his aura no longer even holding back his injuries. His own blood staining the floor as his body let out a small whimper.

"Weiss! Move Jaune! We got this!" With the confidence of the blonde brawler, Weiss summoned her Knight once more, this time the Armas Gigas appeared. She had the Knight move Jaune as they both ran. The other girls were shooting at the dozens of Grimm that had now been chasing them outside of the mine.

"Why are there so many!"

"Keep shooting Yang!" shouted Ruby. Weiss ran from the mines, keeping herself attentive of the situation. She could hear the girls reloading their weapons, the sounds of the Grimm slowly getting closer. The roars of each Grimm and the apparent panting of her own breath, the slight hitch in Jaune's breath as each step seemed to agitate one of his multiple wounds on his body. Only a few steps away from the bullhead, the shooting stopped, the only sound she could hear was the bullhead leaving them behind.

'_What?! Why's he leaving?'_

"WEISS! Look out!"

Her leaders voice echoed through the clearing letting her turn back to the team just in time to see a giant boulder coming their way. Both her and her Knight jumped out of the way, the boulder hitting where the bullhead had been.

Had Weiss been faster that boulder would have crashed the bullhead along with them! The pilot's voice sounded out from their scrolls, "Girls, I'll be coming around! Hang tight for a bit!" Great… Now they had to endure until the bullhead could recovene with them once more. She turned around to see the Geists had possessed more sections of rocks, essentially giving the Grimm rock golems.

Jaune's groaning became less strained, his feet touching the floor. He seemed stable enough to stand on his own two feet so that was something. It would free up the Armas Gigas if they needed more bodies to attack. The rest of team RWBY rejoined with Jaune and faced the hoard of Grimm that was still spilling out of the mine. "How are the Grimm appearing in this many numbers!?"

Spitting some blood on the ground, Jaune took a deep breath, his voice somewhat coarse. "There's a Grimm dragon… Like the one in Beacon." Blake shook her head in disbelief, "The one that spawns more Grimm?" Jaune could only nod, his throat not really helping. "That's all I really know, I saw it in that cave thing I was in…" With a quick look at the Grimm coming at them, Jaune shot a glance at Ruby. "You girls have any ideas?" Ruby took a deep breath, "We always have Pollination Storm?"

Jaune laughed, his wince indicating his wounds. He must have regained an inkling of his aura, as his wounds had stopped bleeding him dry. While he clearly wasn't out of the woods with his injuries having his aura try to fix something was a step in the right direction.

"Clearing a spot for the bullhead?" Weiss had never seen Ruby's head move so fast. "Go for it Ruby. I'll call the bullhead to let them know the pilot can set down on the opening." What the heck was Pollination Storm? It seemed Yang had similar concerns, "What the heck is that?"

Ruby set the scroll to call the pilot then jumped back a few feet, getting some distance from them. Jaune smiled, "It's a team attack name for all of Team RWBY. Ruby made it and I helped improve it. Grab onto Yang's arms, holding out your weapons! Ruby will take care of the rest."

Not seeing where the plan was going, but trusting in the two dolts of their teams, Weiss linked her arm around Yang's arched elbow. Blake on the other side mirrored Weiss' pose. Ruby dashed towards them, activating her semblance, the petals appearing once more.

The Grimm were already gathering in front of them, making any other plans or discussion moot. Jaune, using whatever force he had left in him punched Yang a few times before shouting, "Jump!" All of the girls followed the orders, soon feeling them all taking to the air engulfed by petals. As the girls started their team attack, he called the pilot for the return.

While Yang was getting angrier by the sudden assault, it was Ruby who spoke up, "Yang, fire us up! Use your semblance!" She could feel the stored energy that Jaune had been building up inside her. Understanding why the assault had happened didn't help her anger rising but it did help temper it. Yang's hair exploded with fire, her semblance mixing with Ruby's giving them a slight fiery aspect to the petals. While the girls inside couldn't feel the heat that was coming off of them Jaune certainly could. Weiss could hear Ruby, "Weiss! Imagine a circle of glyphs around us and speed us up with your glyphs, I can't steer properly with this many people. Do the thing you did for me when I raced Harriet!"

Jaune watched as several glyphs appeared away from him in a circle, the red tornado of petal turning into a streaking orange comet with a silver and black streaks across it. Said comet was cutting through the Grimm like nothing, the glyphs effectively changing their course through the Grimm, occasionally taking a hard left or right thanks to Blake's semblance. Whatever wasn't cut down by the girls blades at Ruby's high speeds was bashed by the comet, a nasty scorch mark left behind, sometimes killing a Grimm with a burn severe enough.

While Jaune was forced to watch the girls, he dropped to one knee, taking the time to breathe easier now. The room the team attack had made for him allowed him a slight amount of tension relief. While he was in the cave, he knew his aura was overworking itself to hold him together. Now, however his aura was non-existent. His own vision was somewhat blurry, the puddle starting to form around quite telling in his state. Thankfully, the bullhead was descending on them once more. Jaune took a deep breath, willing his body to move. He managed to turn Ruby's alarm on, calling attention to him, but at the same time signaling for Team RWBY to stop. With that action, Jaune closed his eyes, accepting his fate.

Within seconds, the orange comet turned to him and a hand poked out of the comet, grabbing his hand and speeding him off into the bullhead along with Team RWBY. Ruby shouted at the pilot to move quickly. The bullhead took off, leaving the mine alone to fester with Grimm, the new information gained helping to give them a bigger picture of what they needed to expect. With the adrenaline starting to fade off of all of them, the girls wanted to celebrate the successful mission. It was with a dull thud of the ship that their cheering would stop, their blonde target falling from the seat they had set him on.

Blake rushed over to his side and flipped him over on his back, checking his pulse, removing his armor in order to listen to his heart. Her fist slowly clenching was the answer to their unanswered question. The fact that she refused to meet anyone's eyes killed the need for any confirmation. All she could do at this point was to close his eyes. "Looks like the adrenaline of the fight was the only thing pushing him forward."

Yang growled at him and shook him, probably hoping that he was simply faking it, almost like he was playing a practical joke on them. Blake watched Yang solemnly. After a while of her attempts to "wake" him up Blake grabbed Yang's shoulders softly, trying to steer her off from the Knight. They both held each other, trying to comfort themselves. Ruby kneeled down by the knight, her eyes wide with disbelief. She started shaking slightly while muttering the words, "Not again…" Yang pulled on Ruby's hood, pulling her into a hug, letting them cry.

Weiss had watched as Blake had checked Jaune. After everything they had done, it hadn't been fair! He had survived that damn cave! He was finally free! The worst part of it was over… It should have been a joyous moment, yet here he was, his body's warmth slowly leaving his body. Her hand found his, her eyes threatening to water like her team's had. Sadly, she couldn't stop herself.

As tears ran down her face, she found herself staring at the blonde knight, his face somehow more at peace than ever before. He could finally rest after the hell he must have endured. With the whole team crying, no one noticed Weiss' aura flare up for a second.

'_It was all your fault…'_ a treacherous side of her mind spoke. _'Had he refused your mission offer, he would still be in the training room alive…'_

She tried to shake the harsh feelings she held of herself, but they lingered, slowly reminding her of her prison. While she had escaped one prison, there was another. Her father's words that he had hoped to chain her to him. His version of the Schnee mantra. The words she desperately tried to rebel against. They mocked her, because after so long of trying as hard as she did this mission proved her father wrong.

She just wished it hadn't cost them their heroic Knight.

**Emergency Mission: Rescue Jaune Arc Failed**

After all a Schnee was supposed to be perfect in everything they did. Schnees did not fail.


	3. Cold Atlas, Warm Ansel

Weiss wanted to sleep forever, anything to escape the guilt that she had to bear. As far as she was concerned she had essentially killed Jaune Arc. While everyone else went out and mourned the passing of the Knight, she had decided to stay in and lock herself in their room. While it was still early she wanted to escape her own feelings, her own doubts, and her guilt. Laying her head down on her pillow, she willed herself to sleep.

Pale blue eyes opened to find the ceiling of her home in Atlas. She had had this dream before. An empty house, pale white and light blue accents that would go on forever. It was a familiar environment, one that she had to grow up with.

It was the house that she hated, the place that her father wanted to be her prison. Dressed in the dress she wore when she had returned from Beacon, Weiss got up to explore. She knew it was pointless to do so, as the house would never seem to run out of rooms or new turns. The house was as cold as she ever saw it. Everything about it seemed so familiar, yet she detested all of it. Each step forward lead her nowhere, nothing about the house changing.

It didn't matter what room she passed, she ignored it. Why should she care? The rooms were always empty. Yet as she got closer to the front door, she stopped and examined it.

The door was open. It was always closed before.

She could see a hilly green pasture just outside her own door. She came close to it, seeing the outside world. It wasn't Atlas by any stretch of the imagination.

In fact, she had no idea where this place was. The homes were small, but well built, the world outside was somewhat of a small village, almost if families had come here and built their own house nearby. She stepped out into the world, and suddenly the atmosphere was different.

She could see children playing in the street with several balls and swords. Her legs moved her forward, her eyes drinking in this whole new world. It was something so far from her own life, yet she welcomed it. She could see mothers lovingly guide their children to the market, fathers working with teenagers in order to do some sort of manual labor. She basked in the warmth of the sun, the entire experience being familiar to her.

She wandered around before she came up to the outskirts of the town, something in her pulling her along. It was only then when she saw a large hill, bigger than the other ones in the dream. On the top of the hill was a large oak tree, but that wasn't what caught her attention to it. Sitting by the tree was a lone figure, his shield facing her while his face looked over the hill.

"Jaune…" the name slipped out, not trusting her eyes. After all this was a dream, her mind could be imagining it in a way to make her feel better? That didn't stop her from moving forward towards the ex-Knight.

Her legs started to climb the hill as her eyes never left his shape. Rising quickly, she found him sitting on the hill. He seemed so carefree, no armor or weapons on him. He had his Pumpkin Pete's hoodie and jeans like he always used to in Beacon. By the way he reacted, he must have heard her running up the hill. There was a worried tone to his voice as she got closer. "Hey Weiss. You doing okay?"

What? Despite everything that had happened, his first question was her concern?

Looking into sapphire orbs, she remembered what slumber was supposed to push away. "I'm so sorry Jaune…" she could feel the tears come back as she remembered their mission. It took everything she had to hold herself back from crying. She didn't win.

His words brought her to attention, "For what Weiss? You managed to make it didn't you?"

Her tears fell as she gave way to anger, "You idiot! How can you say that?! I failed you! I took a mission that left you stranded, then you died before you could even make it to safety! I essentially killed you! All of this could have been avoided had you not joined me!"

Weiss didn't notice from her tears, but Jaune had somehow gotten up and wrapped his arms around her. It felt like one of Winter's hugs, one meant to comfort her. The warmth that she knew from the summoned Jaune filled her once more. Just like before, it soothed her, slowing down her tears.

That's when the idea clicked. It wasn't a warmth from her version of Jaune. It was HIS warmth, filtering to her somehow. It was his warmth that she got from the summoned Jaune, but then that was when he was alive. So how was she getting it now? Only when she calmed down, did he speak again.

"If I hadn't gone with you, would you have waited or taken another mission? Would you have waited for someone else to help or would you have gone alone, thinking it was a normal mission?"

His words hurt, they hurt far more than they should have. Her mouth opened, stammering to get something out. Something to assure him that she would have been fine, but considering how the mission turned sour she couldn't really say much against the Knight. What would have happened had she not taken that mission?

He took the time to make sure she was feeling better, before motioning to the ground next to the tree, offering her a seat. He took his seat again, his eyes seemingly admiring the beauty of nature. Wordlessly she sat down, leaving a space between them. She dried the remaining tears in her eyes. Staring at the scenery like Jaune had allowed her time to think.

Her mouth tried to form a multitude of questions, but none came out. The only one that did was simple. "Where are we Jaune?" With a quick smile and a short chuckle, he answered, "This is Ansel, Weiss. A small town on the outskirts of Vale. This is where I used to call home." That last sentence didn't help Weiss.

They both sat in silence, both of them unsure of what to say until, in true Arc fashion, he said the first thing that came to mind.

"Do you believe in destiny?"

It sounded so rehearsed, so abstract, almost like he was borrowing the words.

"Not in the "it doesn't matter what you do, events are supposed to happen" type of destiny. More like the "you have a goal you need to do" type of destiny?"

She had never thought about it, but could see where Jaune was going. "I suppose. Why do you ask? Do you believe it was your destiny to die in that cave?"

A small smile formed on his face, "I think I became part of what I was supposed to. Even if no one hears about my feats, I became a hero."

An eyebrow questioned him further, "What do you mean? No one will remember you, you didn't become famous, just another Hunter that died in the line of duty…"

He shook his head, "That's because, to the world, I WAS just a Huntsman that died in the service of the world. That's not who I mean though." He turned to look at her, matching blue to pale blue. "You, you're the reason I can call myself a hero. I saved you, anyone you or team RWBY save will also be because of the fact that you lived. It is because of my "sacrifice" that you can continue the fight. After all isn't that what a hero is supposed to do?"

Weiss stared at him in shock, "Throwing your life away for me? Why Jaune? Why would you do so much for ME of all people? After everything that happened?"

Jaune laughed, clearly not reading the situation at the moment. "I care about all my friends, Weiss. I always wanted to protect everyone, to be a Huntsman. And an Arc never goes back on their word."

Those words shook Weiss awake, a glyph in her hand once more. The warmth from the summoned Jaune was there, as was he. Her aura shone white for a moment then faded into a blue she had seen in the dreams. The light blue of the sky she had hardly seen in Atlas.

"Jaune…?"

Her voice sounded surprised, seeing the man she just talked to. The man who was supposed to be dead. His form wasn't shrouded in the light blue glow of the Schnee summons. Now he stood tall, the once white and copper armor that he had now shone white and blue under the moonlight. His eyes were the deep blue that she remembered, his hair as white as her own.

Unexpectedly the knight vanished before her eyes, and just like in the mines, she could hear him.

'Hey Snow Angel'

**A/N: This ends the first part of the story, set up complete! Sorry about the low word count, I couldn't really extend it without mucking up the flow. Hopefully the set up didn't bore you, but the story will feature the new "enemy" of the Grimm dragon while still weaving into the Vol 7 plot. **


	4. Fallout

While she did not fully understand what had happened, one thing was certain. Jaune Arc was far from dead. He lived, more inside of her than anything else, but somehow she wasn't as against to the idea than she should be. Maybe she deserved it or perhaps it was karma for leading the young man to what others would call his "death".

One of the only problems that had come from it was, only she could hear him. Having spent the whole night talking with the soul of one Jaune Arc, hadn't been bad, but it was something she would have to come to terms with. Her mind would no longer be the safe haven she had once held, any thought that came to her mind would be instantly felt or read by him. While he tried to help, sometimes it would be better for him to not talk.

'_**You can see us as another Ozpin and Oscar situation? Does that help wrap your head around us?'**_

'_Jaune, while I do appreciate your input in our trying times, I would appreciate it a bit more if I could think to myself right now. Can you turn yourself off or stop listening to my thoughts?'_

'_**Where am I supposed to go? I can try, but I don't exactly know what I'm doing here.'**_

It was with a heavy sigh that she had to give him credit for that. Where was he supposed to be when she needed privacy? Could he sleep and leave her alone for a bit? Maybe he could do as Ozpin did with Oscar and just lock himself away for a bit? This whole situation was giving her a headache.

'_Hey Jaune?'_

The voice answered back, her feeling his inquiry, _**'Yes Weiss?' **_

'_Thanks for last night, I imagine I needed that.'_

His cheerful voice came back to her, his smile seemed to spread onto her own face, _**'It's no problem Weiss! I'll always be here… for you…' **_

While the statement would have been comforting for many, it was something very different for them. They were as together as they could possibly be.

It was only because of Penny that team RWBY were called away, Ironwood having to debrief them of their mission. Getting herself ready, she walked to the Headmaster's office along with team RWBY, knowing what was coming. As the team filtered into the office, Nora and Ren were already waiting for them, their expressions filled with curiosity. Weiss winced, knowing the news they would receive.

'_**Ren...Nora…'**_

"Thank you for coming girls," Ironwood's voice was stern, but also downtrodden. "I want to thank you for your reaction, your actions helped to shine a light on a new problem that has somehow slipped through the cracks. It was also thanks to your friend, may he rest in peace."

Ren's eyes widened, but his face hardly reacted. It had to be an effect of his semblance, seeing how much the colors seemed to drain from his own expression. Nora started to shake her head in disbelief. "Fearless leader…" It didn't take long before Ren held her, his semblance also muting her own growing sadness. Before anyone could say anything, the two members left the room, no one blaming them for their reaction.

Weiss could feel Jaune's need to go and hug them, after all it was a feeling she shared with him, the only thing stopping her was Ruby holding onto her. Yang and Blake were sitting down, also holding each other's hands. All of them felt their failure, yet Weiss didn't really feel the loss like they did. How could she? Jaune was talking to her in her head, but somehow she doubted that would comfort anyone.

Crocea Mors shone in the back of the office, drawing both their attentions to it. It stood against the desk, the clear white shield reflecting with a bright glow, signs of a new polish on its face. The accents that the shield had also shone, giving Jaune some sense of nostalgia. Almost like when team RJNR had first seen it.

'_**Crocea Mors… Can you bring it with us Weiss? I don't want to leave it behind.'**_

'_I'll see what I can do Jaune…'_

Ironwood patiently waited for the girls to finish, before speaking once more. Penny and Winter stood forward, allowing Ruby to separate herself from Weiss to hug Penny. Winter stood by Weiss, a touch of sisterly love in her words, "After this Weiss, we need to have a talk sister." With a quick squeeze of her hand on Weiss' shoulder, Winter gave her a small smile and retreated back to Ironwood's side.

"I'm sorry girls, but as Huntsmen we need to accept loss when it arrives. Jaune Arc was a good man, but he would not want his findings to be lost, especially in this war against Salem."

Team RWBY nodded along, the only dissenting opinion rang in Weiss' head.

'_**Dick…'**_

"A Grimm wyrm has been found in the bottom of the south mine of Mantle, and while it is young, there has already been an influx of Grimm that it has helped to spawn into this world. Along with the other Grimm that populate the other mines around Mantle, I need to ask for your cooperation in assisting the Ace Ops to clear it out. We need to take this thing out before it can spawn enough Grimm to overrun us. Any questions?"

"What's going to happen to Jaune's body? I know he was from Vale, and his parents should know what happened to him." Ruby asked.

Ironwood took a seat in his chair, picking up Crocea Mors from his desk and examining it, "I have already asked Winter to put the body in a special "vault". As we speak it is being frozen to preserve it. Once we find his family, we will send them the body of Jaune Arc with his weapon. Actually I would appreciate it if one of your team was to go with it, in order to ensure its protection and to comfort the grieving family. Of course, this will be after the embargo, once we have made sure that any flights out will be safe."

'_**Hmm… at least I know my body will be taken care of?'**_

"Any questions regarding the mission?" Ironwood asked once more.

Weiss spoke up, "Will this mission be added to the other missions on the board or will we have to come to you to personally undertake this task?"

Ironwood nodded, his face processing the question, "They will be on the board, however, due to Mr. Arc's passing, I will ask you to take at least three Huntsmen while taking any of those missions. For safety reasons, of course. We don't need another Arc incident if possible. If there are no other questions, you are all dismissed."

Weiss moved forward towards Ironwood as the rest of team RWBY left the office, "General Ironwood sir?"

"You can call me just Ironwood or General, either is fine Weiss."

"Mr. Ironwood, would you allow me to take possession of Crocea Mors? It would mean a lot to me."

Even Winter looked shocked at the request, "Sister, why torture yourself with the arments of your fallen comrade?"

"It's BECAUSE I failed him… I can't let that happen to anyone else Winter. I'll even go with the body to the Arc family home when the time comes. The two Schnees stared as each other, almost like they were communicating wordlessly. Winter nodded along, seeing her sister's resolve about the issue. She stood straight as she could and glanced over at Ironwood, waiting for his answer.

"Very well Weiss, you may hang onto Crocea Mors for the time being."

'_**Weiss, you don't need to beat yourself up because of me… I'm okay with what happened.'**_

With the permission granted, Weiss took the relic of a sword and walked out, shouldered by her sister.

'_I will never understand why you don't hate me or even loathe me.'_

'_**You wouldn't believe me even if I told you Weiss.'**_

Winter watched her younger sister clutch the sword, her arms wrapped around it, almost scared of letting it go. "Weiss, what exactly are your plans for that boy's sword and shield?"

Weiss looked up at her, "What if I was to tell you I plan on learning how to use them?"

A quick scoff from Winter was her answer, "I would inform you of your foolhardy nature. Weiss, while I admire your drive in this case, I would recommend not to do that. That weapon is much too big for you. It would take you too long to build yourself up to even handle the weapon. Stick to what you know."

Dropping off Crocea Mors in team RWBY's room, Winter and Weiss went back to the training grounds. They occupied their usual spot for their summoning battles. "A good training session may help with grief Weiss, I would rather this than you taking another unreliable mission."

Both of the Schnee's summoned their beings, Winter having summoned her swarm of Beowolves, much like she had done for Weiss before she was ready to take on the Armas Gigas. Meanwhile Weiss summoned her Knight, the glyph bringing forth the Jaune summon.

"Using his summon sister? Surely you need more time to gain practice with him don't you think?"

_**``Whoa, you can summon me?! That's pretty cool, wait would this make me your white knight?'**_

Of course he would focus on that aspect of the summon.

'_Maybe think of a better name Jaune?'_

"There is no better time than now Winter."

"Very well."

The two sets of summons begun their clash, the Jaune summon responding well to the number of opponents it had. However, the Knight's attacks felt much like the Armas Gigas, rather slow, but powerful.

'Jaune, what are you doing out there?'

'_**Weiss, what are you talking about? I'm still here with you.'**_

'_Wait you're not in the summon?!'_

'_**Should I be?!'**_

'_You were in there last night! I thought you were part of the Knight summon and you just lived in my head while the Knight wasn't summoned!'_

'_**I don't know how I managed to do it last night! It just happened!'**_

While the conversation was going on between the two, Winter's beowolves corralled the Knight, ending the fight when two of them slashed at it, shredding the summon into mist like many of Winter's summons had done to Wiess' before.

"Weiss, it doesn't seem like your concentrating on our match. Is something on your mind?"

"Yes sister, you mentioned that you had something to talk about?"

"Indeed I do Weiss, but we can do it after training. This time you need to learn how to fight alongside your summon. While our summons are extremely versatile and powerful in their own rights, you cannot let that be your weakness. Our summons assist us, not fight for us."

Placing her hands once more on her weapon, she dug the weapon onto the floor, the summoning glyph reappearing in front of her.

"Weiss, you need to master the art of a quick summoning, spend too much time calling on your summon and you leave yourself open to attacks. Make your movements too obvious of your intentions and you will allow enemies to counter you easily."

Weiss knew about that aspect of battle, after all, she had experienced that turnout while she had fought that bandit girl, Vernal. While that was a fight she didn't like, that same fight taught her about the misuses of summons and how to better fight. She just hoped that she could be as good as Winter was with her summons.

The Knight came back slowly and still in the kneeling position. Meanwhile Winter's Beowolves seem to spawn from her hand as a small glyph danced in the palm of Winter's hand. In the same amount of time it had taken Weiss to summon the Knight, Winter's hand had summon an entire swarm of Beowolves, all of them in a crouched position, ready to strike. She had a long way to go before she could be a summoner at Winter's level, she just hoped the constant training would elevate her to the desired level.

The Knight fought admirably, managing to hold off some of Winter's Beowolves, while Weiss ended their free reign. While they managed to hold off the swarm, Jaune wasn't exactly quiet.

'_**Move me back, I'm gonna get torn apart between the Grimm!'**_

With a simple thought, the Jaune summon did move back, allowing the Grimm to crash into each other as their attack failed. How could Jaune not control the knight? Did she have to pour him into her summon too? She decided to try it out another time as she saw Winter enter the fray against them. While her own horde of Grimm distracted them, Winter's sharp strikes and greater speed allowed her the victory in their match, but she didn't revel in it, instead acting much like Professor Goodwitch had.

"Your concentration was split Weiss, you would do much better in reigning it in while you fought. Your summon is also fighting sloppily, perhaps seeing someone that can fight in that style will help give your mind the image for smoother attacks or maybe even some combination of the two? You need to use your summon to set your own attacks, the reverse can also happen, but you should save those moments for dire situations."

Weiss nodded along, the information being presented to her was slowly soaking in. With the training session ending, Winter's face seemed to soften slightly before sitting down with her sister. "Weiss, it seems like something's troubling you. You can always talk with me if you need something Weiss."

"Weiss, do you need to talk about that Jaune Arc boy? I know failing that mission meant more than a simple failure. That was your friend wasn't it?"

Weiss stared at her sister's eyes, "Yeah, he was. He was our friend." Weiss stayed silent for a bit, her mind racing deciding whether or not to tell Winter the truth about Jaune. Her fingers itched and curled up within themselves, "Can you keep a secret Winter?"

Winter nodded, "For you, anything Weiss."

"What if I told you Jaune's not dead, he's inside me? His aura mixed with mine somehow…"

Winter wrapped her arms around her sister, trying to comfort her, "It's natural for people to want to feel connected to the people they lost Weiss. That doesn't mean they haven't passed. Given enough time, I know you will come to terms with that Arc boy's death."

Weiss sighed, knowing Winter meant well, "Thank you Winter."

With a smile on her face, Weiss walked out of the training room, _'Well, that went as good as I thought it would have. I would have thought she of all people would have believed me.'_

'_**Would anyone knowing I'm here do anything? It's not like I can just pop out whenever I want. I think we should focus on doing what we can first.'**_

'_It appears we do Jaune… We also need to aid the mine clearing efforts. Thanks to you, we know about it, but we still need to make sure an army of Grimm isn't at our doorstep anytime soon.'_

'_**Ready to take another mission? I figured you guys would have waited a bit longer, but maybe this time things will go smoother!'**_

"We can pick a mission tomorrow, right now I need to make sure everything in Mysteraster works perfectly."

It was only as the words exited her mouth that she realized she had spoken aloud rather than thinking about it, causing a passing Ruby and Yang to hear her declaration of missions and closed the distance before Weiss could get another word out.

"You better not overwork yourself Weiss, you don't need to get out there just yet. Jaune barely left us, we don't need you joining him." said Ruby.

Yang placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder, "I dont know… I think she may have a point Rubes, we can sit here and have our pity party, but I know I already pity partied myself out. I vote we lose ourselves in missions, taking revenge against the Grimm for taking our Knight!" Her expression turned into a slight smile, "We can have the whole team go if you're worried about her going alone, that should solve that problem right?"

Ruby nodded her head, "Fine, but we stick together got it?" Both of the other girls silently agreed.

With a solemn look at Weiss, Ruby took off planning on informing the rest of their team on their mission for the following day. Meanwhile Weiss continued with her plans of checking her weapon, her mind thinking back on the new part of her life.

'_Jaune, you're a part of me now right?'_

'_**Unless you can forcibly push my aura into another body, most likely why?'**_

'_Can I use your semblance?'_

The voice in her head stayed quiet, a small '_**Huh…'**_echoed in her mind as Jaune probably was thinking about how to best answer that question.

'_**If my aura remains inside you, I think so? I mean semblances use aura and my aura is still active in a way. Why do you ask?'**_

'_You think that we can bring you back somehow? I mean if your aura is still here, that means you haven't exactly died right?'_

'_**Weiss… Don't worry about me. If something comes up, I promise we'll try it out, but you can't torture yourself with constantly planning for something we don't really know about.'**_

'_When did you become the mature one?'_

She could hear a small laugh coming from him, strangely enough it was enough to lighten her mood.

'_**Time changes people Weiss, that and death does wonders for your priorities!'**_

Weiss gasped as she entered her room, hearing Jaune's idea of a joke, or so she hoped it was. The lightened mood that his laugh had brought immediately soured.

'_Was that supposed to be a joke Arc?'_

'_**Supposed to be, figuring it didn't land?'**_

'_I'm choosing to ignore you now.'_

'_**Yup, didn't land.'**_

Taking out her small bag of dust, she opened up her own weapon, ensuring that all the cylinders had full dust crystals. She spun the chambers, making sure that the weapon was in its best condition. She tinkered with the spin, clearing out any dust build up that would negatively impact her ability to call the dust forward.

She could feel Jaune doing something, but true to her word, she tried to not pay attention to him. She could hear him taking what would have been counted as deep breaths, calming himself down. Weiss let him have his time as she kept working on her weapon, a soft white glow coming off her aura, neither of the two noticing.

Meanwhile, in the slums of Mantle, Watts hid inside an abandoned building, a seer Grimm waiting for him inside. WIth a slight touch of the Grimm, a projection of his mistress appeared, "Salem, it seems James has found the Dragon. He'll be sure to ensure its destruction."

"It matters not Watts. Atlas will fall. Dragon or no dragon, all they need is a single push."

**A/N: Hey guys, thanks for reading! Thanks to the advice of a couple of friends, I have decided to look for a beta-reader for Knight of Schnee. If anyone wants to help me with the story, go ahead and pm me about beta-reading. **


	5. Weiss and her Knight

A/N: Sorry about the time it took for this to come out, I had a bit of time with writer's block. Thankfully, I was able to finish this up! Hopefully, you guys enjoy it. Let me know what you think in the reviews.

* * *

As the morning sun rose, peeking through the curtains of Team RWBY, Weiss was the first to awaken. Her eyes struggling to get used to the light, she meandered around the room. She grabbed her toiletries and made her way to the showers, ensuring she had ample time to think over her situation. It didn't take her long to finish her shower and return to the room, noticing the other girls were still fast asleep. Absentmindedly, she fetched and put on her outfit, double-checking her belts to be as secure as she could make them.

They would be revisiting the location of what Jaune kept calling, "the Reset Mission". Team RWBY was going to go into the mines in order to help reduce the amount of Grimm in the area. Brushing her hair, she gazed at the weapons held by her desk, one of their weapon's twin arcs seemingly watching her, her own Mysternaster propped up against Crocea Mors. Her hands worked on her braid as her attention remained on the duo.

Weiss' ice-blue eyes scanned the weapons, thinking back to the weapons the rest of the team had. Ruby's scythe, Blake's mecha-shift weapons, Yang's gauntlets and her own rapier. Each one was handcrafted by its owner. Each one of them spoke volumes of their owner's own personality. Yet the two weapons that currently sat there seemed two be alike in more ways than she would have admitted to before.

Both of them simple weapons, a sword and shield combo and a single rapier. While both weapons weren't mecha-shift weapons like Crescent Rose or Gambol Shroud, they did their jobs well. Both were single swords, meant to be used more efficiently than simply slashing at their opponents. Both of them, now empowered by dust, allowed their owner to use them more effectively. Lastly, both of them shared possible styles with one another, yet their owners used them in completely different ways.

'_Before that mission, I would have never thought of Jaune's weapon as being similar to mine. Yet now…'_

With a mumble from Yang, Weiss was brought out of her mind and continued her routine. Her outfit eventually put on and her hair braided as perfectly as she could, she searched within herself to bring out her aura. Strangely though, she couldn't feel Jaune's warmth anymore, almost like he was no longer there.

'_Jaune? Are you there?'_

Her head was quiet as she waited for a response that had yet to come. The lack of a reply concerned Weiss, her mind trying to process as to why Jaune wasn't answering. With a small hitch in her breath, she took a deep breath, making a note for herself. Closing her eyes, she called forward her aura from the depths of her soul. As it started to expand, she felt her aura touch another ball of aura apart from her own inside her body.

"Is this Jaune's aura?" She spoke quietly, not wishing to wake the others.

Her aura tickled the other core and within seconds, the ball reacted. The small orb she felt started to expand and almost instantly Jaune's familiar warmth started to wrap around her. White shined over her blue, then just as suddenly as it had come, his aura faded back into the blue. She could feel the Knight's presence once more.

'_**Morning Weiss.'**_

'_Jaune?'_

'_**Yes?'**_

'_Are you okay?'_

'_**Yeah! I feel fine."**_

'_Huh… that's interesting.'_

A few moments of thoughts went into the interaction, but she dropped the subject. Unsure of what had just happened, she decided she could focus on that once the mission was over.

Grabbing Mysternaster, Weiss headed out the door as the rest of team RWBY was starting to wake up. She didn't know why, but she still needed a bit more time alone. As she walked past the halls of Atlas Academy she found herself idly letting her legs decide where they would spend the time before their mission started. As she walked she could hear Jaune "talking" to her.

'_**Alright Weiss, today's mission starts soon right?'**_

'_Of course, this time we'll have all of Team RWBY with me, so everything will work out wonderfully.'_

Left unsaid was her own worries about going back to the cavern. The last time she had been confident, Jaune paid the price. However, Jaune seemed to read her mind as she could hear his concerns. His voice sounded concerned, almost resentful.

'_**Weiss… Don't.'**_

Weiss took a deep breath and shook her head, _'Jaune, it hasn't even been a week. I don't believe you can "cure" guilt by telling me it wasn't my fault.'_

'_**Doesn't mean I won't keep trying to cheer you up. I promise I won't, and you know what that means right?'**_

Knowing what came next she rolled her eyes, almost trying to see if she could speed up the next sentence she knew was coming. She knew that silly oath from her dream the other night and from what Ruby had told her in Beacon.

'_I know Jaune, and an Arc never goes back on his word correct?'_

She could hear a small hum of acknowledgment from him.

'_You're just like Ruby, a happy-go-lucky dolt.'_

'_**One of us has to be!'**_

His voice came through as somewhat shaky, but Weiss chalked it up to nervousness from the upcoming mission. After all, what else could it be? Without knowing how to summon him into the Knight, one of her abilities would be somewhat stagnant. She wouldn't blame Jaune for that, he never asked for this.

She went to get breakfast in the cafeteria, quietly sitting down and eating the oatmeal and the fruit she had gotten. Once she finished, she allowed herself a small cup of coffee in order to wake up. As she sat drinking from the cup, she felt the liquid's warmness translate into her own body. Lost in her own world, she failed to notice as her team joined her.

* * *

Sitting together, team RWBY was eating breakfast, Ruby going on about her mission excitedly. "Okay, team! Today we'll be heading back to the southern mines, it is strictly a clearing mission. We need to kill as many Grimm as possible. Our mission is complete when we have decided we have taken enough Grimm or if we encounter something that we should tell Ironwood."

Yang butted in with her own thoughts, "So _this_ we do tell Ironwood?"

Blake elbowed Yang in the ribs, "Yang!"

"I'm just saying, we aren't telling him about the lamp or Salem."

Ruby glanced at where the lamp had been on her person, her hand hovering over the space, seemingly drawing strength from the gesture.

"I know it seems bad Yang, but it's only until we know for sure we can trust him. Then we'll tell him."

Lilac eyes fixed onto silver ones, only taking a moment before Yang broke the connection, "Okay Rubes, so long as we tell him. I trust you."

Ruby's short and simple nod calmed Yang as she started to eat breakfast that was in front of her. Blake did the same as Weiss was finishing her own. Ruby glanced towards Weiss, the snow haired girl seemingly moving her own eyes back and forth slightly, almost like she was thinking intently about something.

'_Is she nervous about returning to those mines? We did lose… We did fail that mission there.'_

Reaching out to her teammate she placed a hand on the Heiress's shoulder. Despite jumping slightly under her hand Weiss did manage to perk up a bit, "Yes Ruby?"

"Are you going to be okay? I mean, I know what happened there affected you more than anyone else here. It's okay if you don't want to go. If you need some more time, we can even cancel the mission."

Weiss's expression stayed still for a little while before her lips turned up slightly, into a comforting smile, "Thank you Ruby, but I'm fine. I think we all need this mission, maybe get our mind off of this for a bit? I don't think Jaune would appreciate us moping around."

Ruby's face produced a fragile smile, "Yea, he would probably say something like, "We need to get down to business, to defeat the Grimm!"

Weiss's smile grew so slightly and rolled her eyes with feigned annoyance, "That does sound like him." Her eyes shifted over to her side, as team FNKI entered the cafeteria. However, Weiss didn't seem to notice them enter.

Yang caught all their attention, "You think team FNKI would train with us like the Ace Ops did? After all, I do want a rematch for the Vytal festival, that win against Neon seemed too much like luck for my taste."

The simple question was enough to reignite conversation into other topics, each of the team members getting into it at some time. Their food finished, Weiss got up and threw away her trash, placing the tray in its rightful place before heading out for the bullhead accompanied by her team.

* * *

Weiss hurried to their ship, determined to practice a bit more before the mission. Once inside the bullhead, Weiss took a deep breath and summoned her Knight, trying to have Jaune control it himself. The rest of the team was presumably securing their own gear, giving the Heiress some time to practice alone. While that was the plan, outside forces seemed keen to interfere.

'_Try jumping into it from me Jaune.'_

'_**I'm trying, but it's not working! It's like it's not letting me.' **_

She could feel Jaune's aura trying to seemingly seep into her own aura, but the Knight wasn't moving at all. The small Jaune Knight kneeled in her hands, the glyph below it spinning around it like it would for any other summon.

'_Hmmmm…'_

Her moment of introspection was somewhat ruined as Jaune "tugged" on her aura, calling her attention.

'_Yes, Jaune?'_

A moment of silence came from the Knight. Even though he was silent, she could practically see his shifting eyes and his hand on the back of his neck.

'_**Weiss, thanks for cheering up Ruby.'**_

'_Of course Jaune, she's part of my family. Of course, I would do anything for them. A Schnee always keeps their word.' _

'_**Kinda sounds like an Arc's promise. You know, those things that I do?'**_

'_It does, doesn't it? Well then, seems like both our families like to keep their word!'_

' _**Alright, Weiss. Let me know when you need something, I'll be training with my aura, seeing if I can jump from you to the Knight okay?'**_

'_Of course, Jaune.'_

Quickly setting the Knight down, she noticed that the glyph still spun in her hand. Without thinking, she pulled on her glyph, doing so stretched the glyph over her arm, appearing for all purposes as a design on her glove rather than her very active summoning glyph. Hopefully the hidden Knight would allow ample time to jump into the Knight. The faster he could learn the skill, the easier time they would have in the mines. She wondered what was keeping her team so long to come to the airship, all of them taking much longer than she had expected.

The rest of the team boarded afterwards, the airship taking off blasting off back to the mines. All of them watched the clouds go by as they flew. Ruby was holding her left hand with her right, almost like she was having a silent conversation with someone.

'_Jaune, do you think we should tell my team about you? I mean they are my family, and I don't wish to hide anything from them.'_

'_**They do seem to be hurting because of me, but honestly? I don't even know how they would take it themselves? They went to a funeral for me.'**_

He had a point, what would showing them Jaune was still alive even do for them? They had seen him die! That wasn't something you can easily hide from them. Apart from that obvious fact, how would she even mention how Jaune was still alive to them? It wasn't like she knew what happened herself. Though, even if it was something that she couldn't explain, she still didn't feel right hiding it from them.

'_Jaune, do you trust me?'_

'_**What are you planning, Weiss?'**_

A moment of silence came between the two, then Jaune spoke once more, _**'Yes Weiss, I trust you.'**_

Weiss looked at her team and cleared her throat, catching everyone's attention. "Ruby, Yang, Blake, I have a confession to make to you." Hopefully none of them noticed how her hands seemed to wrap around Mysternaster tighter.

All three of them turned to Weiss.

"Jaune's not really gone… I don't know how, but he jumped into my aura and that's why I can summon the Jaune Knight."

With those words said, she had the knight come out of hiding and made the Knight bigger until it reached Jaune's natural height, his face plain and eyes devoid of any color. The whole team watched the Knight grow, Ruby's eyes widening. Yang, on the other hand, walked up to the summon, carefully studying it.

The blonde brawler wrapped her arms around the Knight tightly, softly patting the summon on the back. She held him in her arms for a bit and sat back down next to Weiss, her voice somewhat motherly, "He's still with us huh?"

They all watched as Blake placed a hand over Weiss's shoulder, much like Yang had on her other side. "It's okay Weiss, we know Jaune's still with us. He would never leave his job incomplete, especially with everything that's at stake here."

Confused with Blake's words, Weiss's eyes focused on Blake as she fumbled around with a bag she had brought on board as the ship flew, slowly taking out a pauldron from her bag. Shining gold and white, all of team RWBY knew from where it had come from.

Taking out a small piece of dust, she began to draw on the pauldron, noticing everyone observed her. Once the Belladonna's symbol was etched onto the armor piece, she added the Arc's own symbol inside the armor. All of them watched as Blake fastened it onto her arm, not once looking away from it. Once properly placed she sighed and looked at her teammates, a content smile on her face.

"This way, he can finish his last job…"

Yang nodded in agreement as she too pulled another one of Jaune's pauldrons to attach to her own right shoulder, skipping the drawing of her symbol on it. Her human hand rested on it, deep breaths filtering in and out of her own mouth.

"Yeah, let's carry Vomit Boy through his last mission. He would have done the same for us."

The team looked at Ruby who was staring at her own gloves, the Arc family crest freshly designed on one of them.

'_**They miss me…'**_

'_Of course they do, you are our friend, what were you expecting would happen if they knew you had died?'_

'_**I honestly don't know… Did I really make that much of an impact?'**_

'_More than you know Jaune.'_

Closing her eyes, Weiss willed her aura to cover the ball of white that she had found earlier, doing what she hoped was a hug. She could feel Jaune's aura and even managed to pull it a bit as their auras separated once more. It seemed like she could even move his aura around. When she opened her eyes, she noticed that both Blake and Ruby were hugging the summon themselves. It was disheartening to see the summon not do anything back.

After giving them a moment to hug the Jaune summon, under Weiss's command, the summon started to phase away, the aura used in the summons coming back to her. With the aura regained, she felt her own aura refill almost entirely again.

Blake's smile was small, but still present, "Now all of us can carry a piece of him with us. Weiss's Knight, our shoulder guards, and Ruby's gloves."

Yang answered, "He won't be gone, not as long as we remember him."

While she did appreciate the gesture, none of the team seemed to believe her on her claim. _'That didn't go as planned…'_

'_**Maybe it's for the best this way Weiss?'**_

The airship safely made the trip, this time the girls were able to get off after the ship landed rather than jumping off the ship like the other times they had needed to. All of them readied their weapons, the two sets of partners separating themselves like always.

Ruby and Weiss moved ahead of Blake and Yang, making a small tightly-knit force. As they moved through the open field towards the mine, the Grimm was already starting to appear. Manticores started to fly circles around them, while Centinels were creeping upon them.

"Into the mine! We can funnel them, but we need to get out of the open!" Ruby shouted.

All of team RWBY ran towards the cave, both Ruby and Blake covering the back of the group as they opened fire on the manticores.

Yang said, "Can't even get into the mine without Grimm? This place is just waiting for Hunters huh?"

Yang and Weiss cut through the Centinels blocking their way, several glyphs helping Weiss dash across the open spaces while Yang vanquished the Centinels too distracted with Weiss to notice her. Several Manticore bodies started hitting the floor as Ruby or Blake hit either center mass or their heads. Moving back slowly, the two girls focused their attention on the flying masses until they heard Weiss, "We're clear!"

Ruby immediately used her semblance, picking up Blake and retreated into the opening. The whole team regrouped, they set their backs to the inside of the mine, setting their focus on the Grimm still trying to kill them from the outside. With the opening of the mine, covering their heads and flanks, the Grimm were forced to move in plain view of the girls. Now in a better position, Weiss and Yang joined the firing brigade, adding mines and dust onto their offensive line. Such was the number that even with all four of them, they were still having to knock more and more of them back in order to effectively take care of them.

Weiss stepped back, the dust in Mysternaster changing to her standard white, "I need some time!"

Ruby replied, "We got your back!"

In response, both Blake and Yang switched their tactics to melee, both of them drawing the Grimm's attention to themselves.

'_Jaune now's a good time to jump into the Knight!'_

'_**I'm trying Weiss!'**_

Weiss sighed as her glyph looked as normal as it has always done, the summoning bringing forth the Jaune summon. His eyes still void of any color, but it picked up the false Crocea Mors and jumped into battle, helping Blake and Yang while Ruby held strong as supporting fire against the Manticores that refused to land.

Slowly the Manticores started to thin out as the girls kept driving their advantage, one of the Manticores letting out a roar before Gambol Shroud cut it short. The fight started to change, the flying enemies stopped appearing and instead, all four girls and "Jaune" were able to fight the ground forces.

All of them had their backs to each other, much like the breach they had helped stop in Vale so long ago. Each one of them charged forward, both Blake and Yang quickly closed the distance, Blake using Gambol Shroud's kusarigama form in order to take out several Centinels quickly. Yang, knowing how Blake would operate with her weapon, weaved in and out of the way, stunning enemies she knew Gambol Shroud could kill and planting mines on those that would survive the initial attack.

Meanwhile Ruby kept the Grimm a distance away thanks to her wide swings with Crescent Rose, letting Weiss use her glyphs to immediately close the distance and cut through the Grimm. Weiss's summon kept close to Weiss, rushing in to kill the Grimm before any fireball or claw could attempt an attack on the heiress.

Nearly clearing out all the Grimm outside, the girls failed to notice one of the last Manticores launch its attack from behind the mine's opening, further in than the girls had gone in.

Yang was the only one to notice it, "Weiss look out!" Weiss turned around, seeing the attack, but before she could respond, her Knight lurched forward, its back tanking the hit for her, but also vanishing in the process. Ruby was quick to return fire, completely blowing off the head of the Manticore.

"Weiss are you okay?" the red-cloaked reaper asked.

"Yes, of course. My aura is a bit lower now, but I'm perfectly fine."

Yang looked at the mine, "Well if that was a sample, wonder how the main course is?"

Blake huffed and kept Gambol Shroud drawn, "Let's go find out."

The entire team walked forward, this time having Blake stand in front in order to lead them through the darkened abyss that was the crumbled section of the mines. Her night vision allowed her to see just as well in the dark as she could in plain daylight. The mine was too narrow to have the girls walk shoulder to shoulder but wide enough to let them pass in a single file.

With their weapons in gun form, Ruby stood behind Blake, ready to fire at anything Blake would shoot. Weiss stood in between the sisters, giving her ample time to react if anything was to attack or to support one of the other girls with her glyphs. Meanwhile, Yang covered the rear, ensuring nothing crept upon them.

Weiss checked her scroll, seeing everyone's aura levels. While Ruby and Blake were full, Yang's and her own weren't as lucky. Thanks to the glyphs and the defeated summon, Weiss's aura had dropped down by a fourth of the bar, while Yang's had dropped a tenth. The small blue hue of light directly in front of her told Weiss that Ruby was also checking their auras levels.

The mine was starting to open up once more, the ruined section of the mines giving way to a bigger "room". Several rocks sparkled in the light, indicating the amount of dust in the area.

Blake's ears flattened on her head as her eyes darted around, "It's just as full with dust energy as the other mine."

"Which means melee only team RWBY, we don't want to blow up the mine or ourselves," Ruby ordered. No one had to be told twice.

Weiss saw the hole in the center of the room, the memories of the two failed missions coming back to her. Not wanting to dwell on the past too much, she took a breath to calm herself and reminded herself, _'It's okay Weiss, you have your family with you. Jaune's still with you too.'_

She could feel Jaune's aura flare-up, trying its best to soothe her wordlessly. The rest of team RWBY jumped down almost immediately, leaving Weiss and Jaune alone.

'_**Weiss, can I try something?'**_

'_Sure Jaune, what are you doing though?'_

'_**Just tell me if you feel different okay?'**_

Without saying another word, she felt a familiar feeling. His aura was washing over hers, the same warmth she figured out was Jaune's making her smile slightly. She relished the sensation as she jumped into the opening, a slight memory of the layout thanks to Jaune's own time in the mine. Jaune's aura faded and with it, took the feeling Weiss had received. She could feel her own aura at the max, almost like it was itching to be used. When she landed, she found all of Team RWBY waiting for her.

'_Jaune, did you use your semblance on me?!'_

'_**Did it work?'**_

'_I think so, I feel so much stronger now like I can take on this whole mission myself!'_

Walking into their formation once more, the girls continued on their journey, the mine slightly opening up, allowing them a bit more of free reign over their positioning. Weiss took this time and checked her scroll once more. Like she suspected, her aura now read full compared to earlier.

'_Thank you Jaune, my aura is overflowing!'_

'_**I'm glad at least that worked, looks like I can use my semblance once I find someone's aura to boost. Yours was pretty easy, seeing how it's next to me!'**_

Before any of them could continue the conversation a Griffon's cry caught their attention. Weiss remembered the horde that had attacked Jaune.

"We need to funnel them, there's too many to leave them unchecked!" Several black glyphs suspended a small wave of Grimm into the air, letting Blake cut through them with Gambol Shroud. Ruby kept Crescent Rose as a gun, the cramped area restricting her from moving it too much. Blake and Yang kept them at bay, while Weiss kept using her gravity glyphs to hold them in place. Each glyph would only halt two, causing Weiss to use as many as possible to hold them back. Even with the number of glyphs she was using, a good number of the Grimm were able to slip through, giving Yang and Blake more and more trouble.

'_**Weiss you gotta summon me! You guys need all the help you can get right now!'**_

'_You don't know how to get into the Knight!'_

'_**I'm a fast learner! I can figure it out! Get the knight out there!'**_

Even while keeping most of the Grimm halted with the gravity glyphs, Blake and Yang were being pushed back with the sheer number of Grimm. She could feel Jaune amplifying her aura once more, the sheer numbers of glyphs were starting to wear it down again. Her vial of gravity dust almost out, she quickly noted that her glyphs weren't going to help for much longer. If she ran out of dust, it would severely cripple her own attacks.

As much as she hated to admit it, Jaune was right. If Team RWBY continued as they were, then they too would be overrun with time. They needed something to block the horde, even if for a moment.

Quickly switching to ice dust, she dug Mysternaster into the ground, summoning her ice wall. Cutting off the Grimm before the gravity glyphs stopped, the Grimm's attention was focused on bringing down the wall, while Weiss once again switched dust to the white crystal, with it bringing the summoning glyph.

Just like the time she showed Winter, the summoning circle started to crack. The aura she needed for the summon was being amplified, making it harder for her to move it into the summoning circle. Her eyes closed and her brows furrowed as she forced the symbol to finish. She pushed herself to complete the summon, channeling whatever aura wasn't being amplified by Jaune into the Knight. Jaune stopped his boosting, evidenced by the lack of his aura washing over her she could feel. The glyph started to shine, fixing itself and the Jaune summon appeared once more.

Standing tall, the Jaune knight stood tall and nodded to Weiss. They both moved forward as Yang used her semblance to launch a fireball towards the breaking ice wall, killing several Grimm as it passed by them. While it slimmed the Grimm down, it also tore through the wall that Weiss had made, opening the path once more. As the horde was about to jump at them, twin crescents stopped their advance.

Weiss had seen Jaune's new upgraded shield, and while she had doubted its usefulness Jaune was putting it on display now. Jaune's own shield was expanded, creating another wall against the Grimm. This time, the entire shield was made of bright white aura, even the extended parts that were hard light dust in the actual Crocea Mors. This extended shield proved wide enough so two others could hide behind it along with him. The best part of it was that it was also wide enough to completely block the Grimm from advancing.

Pulling his sword out of the shield he stabbed over the shield himself, piercing the skull of a Grimm. Blake saw what he had done and switched Gambol Shroud to her katana form, stabbing into another Grimm while falling behind the Jaune summon's shield.

Ruby followed suit, letting Crescent Rose's blade unfold halfway, into its war scythe version and made small arcs cutting into whatever Grimm she could. Weiss noticed the position immediately and joined in, standing right behind Jaune. Anything that would hit the shield head-on would have to answer to Mysternaster's edge.

Yang, meanwhile, placed her hands on Jaune's shield. Seeing how the Jaune summon had retreated his sword in order to reinforce the shield's position she helped him push forward and hold their position. Whenever the Grimm would launch themselves at the shield, Yang pushed back, letting the shield hit her own shoulder, her semblance gaining power. It was strange, but with Jaune, they quickly came up with a new formation. Blake on Jaune's left, Ruby taking care of the right, anything coming down the middle met Mysternaster and Yang helping reinforce their stand. Using the new formation, Team RWBY and Jaune thinned out whatever horde had come leaving the team able to talk once more.

"That Grimm wyvern, it's making more and more Grimm. We need to find out where that thing is hiding!"

The entire team gripped their weapons tighter as Ruby looked at their new member.

"Weiss, can you get your Jaune to keep doing what he's doing? That's really helping us make a movable wall against the Grimm. Everyone else, we'll keep doing what we were doing!"

Weiss nodded and placed a hand on the summon, Jaune moving forward with his shield drawn in front of him. The girls took their places, following the summon and just like before, more waves of Grimm launched themselves at them. With Jaune's shield, they were able to move back and forwards as they needed.

Yang could feel her semblance reach capacity, pulling Jaune's shield down to launch another fireball into the open space, wiping out what would have been part of another wave. The sheer numbers helped to limit the fireball's range, never letting it hit any dust inside. As they moved, the Grimm started to come in smaller waves, effectively helping the group push on faster.

'_Jaune, I want to congratulate you, thanks to your summon we're making it through this tunnel unharmed.'_

'_**I'm glad to hear that Weiss, I told you summoning me was a good idea!'**_

Weiss looked at the summon, seeing it turn to her. He raised a thumbs up at Weiss. It was then when she noticed the summon no longer had the void of white in its eyes. She found a set of gentle blue eyes staring at her fondly, his goofy smile plastered on his face.

'_When did you get in the Knight Jaune?'_

'_**I didn't…? I just showed up here. I thought you put me in here.'**_

'_I...did? Well, if not you then surely me, but how did I do that?'_


	6. Mission Complete

**A/N: Hey guys! Been a while huh? Some parts were a bit tricky to make work, but hopefully, it worked out for the best! Let me know what you guys think! Also, there is a small surprise at the end of the chapter!**

* * *

With the sounds of burrowing Centinels, Jaune faced forward once more, his attention focused entirely on the enemies. Weiss and the rest of Team RWBY braced themselves for another wave, this one barely scraping themselves together. It didn't take the group long to pick up the pace. Before long, the road ahead split into two different directions.

"Man, this cave is a lot bigger than I thought!" Yang exclaimed.

"The only problem is which path we take. Maybe right?" muttered Blake.

'_**If we want to find the wyvern, then take the left side. You can see some markings I left with Crocea Mors in case I got lost here.'**_

Weiss moved forward, looking at the entrances, and sure enough, there was a long cut into the rocks of the tunnel that was man-made. Her fingers brushed against the smooth stone, interrupted by the gash Jaune had left.

She looked into the cave and saw nothing but darkness, yet it seemed so familiar. Memories of the events she had seen when she had fallen asleep on the bullhead ride started to pop up once more. She could remember how tired she was at the time and how she had tried to run as fast as she could to avoid the horde. Except Weiss knew, it wasn't her doing the running or escaping. She knew in her heart that it was Jaune's memories, yet how did she experience them?

It hadn't taken long for the small reaper to quickly pick up on what Weiss was looking at. Ruby examined both entrances, noticing the markings on the left tunnel. Noting that only one of the tunnels had the marking, she shook her head.

"We go left. Jaune was down here, so these markings would tell us which way is not the way to go. If he followed our code, then he must have marked the path of most resistance. If that Wyvern is down here, it's going to be down this path."

She could hear a small laugh coming from Jaune.

'_**Oh right… Ruby and I made up the marking language just in case.'**_

'_Did you and Ruby really make an entire language to communicate for this situation?'_

'_**We made up a language for almost any situation. All of team Ranger (RJNR) knows it. When you're a small team traveling, you make up your own ways to handle everything.'**_

The entire team continued forward, the left side of the tunnel was almost silent, the only sound heard was a small hum from the dust energy the whole cave currently had. The team remained on guard for any Grimm attacks. Strangely enough, another attack never came.

Soon there was another sound that could be heard apart from inside the tunnel. It was a soft breathing sound. Almost like something was asleep in the cave with them. Seeing how there was nothing else to follow Team RWBY kept their positions and pressed forward, the mine section was slowly widening more and more. As they walked forward the breathing got louder and louder, eventually overtaking the sound of the charged mine.

The tunnel led them to another opening, wider than any other part of the mine. However, this wasn't what caught their attention. In the middle of the opening, was a Grimm Wyvern sleeping peacefully. Ruby seemed to shake, her eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"I knew Jaune said there was one, but I didn't really believe him. There was another one. The one at Beacon wasn't the only one..." Ruby whispered.

Blake took notice of the size of it. It was almost as big as the one that helped destroy Beacon. She shook her head, "This isn't something we can take on by ourselves. We'll need help..."

Yang looked down at Ruby, "You took care of the other one with your eyes, right? Can't you just silver eye blast this thing and call our mission done?"

Ruby nodded and stood forward, remembering her lessons with Maria. Weiss could hear Ruby's words. "Happy thoughts, good memories. Think of protecting life."

All of them stood guard by the opening they had come from, making sure nothing would sneak upon them. Meanwhile Ruby took a deep breath, slightly muttering to herself. Her silver eyes started to get lighter and a bit of light started to emerge from them. Just as her eyes started to shine, the Wyvern's own eyes opened wide and noticed them.

With a loud roar, Ruby was thrown back. It immediately flung a fireball at them. All of them scattered out of the way, but the fireball hit the entrance causing it to collapse within itself. Just like that, all of them were trapped in the mine with it. Weiss noticed that some of the flesh of the Grimm had been petrified already.

'_It woke up, feeling itself turning into stone… How powerful are Ruby's eyes that she didn't even fully use them yet it already worked?'_

"Freezerburn!" shouted Ruby.

Weiss's hands immediately spun her dust revolver, setting it to her ice dust while Yang jumped into the air. She covered the dust mine with a thick layer of ice as Yang came down and instantly turned it to mist, covering them. The Grimm Wyvern searched for them, the mist working its "magic".

"Looks like we're fighting now!" Blake reported to Ruby.

"Ruby, what do we do? I doubt our attacks will do much damage!" Yang asked.

Ruby looked at her team and nodded, "We need something stronger, keep it busy, see if we can use some of the dust around here to bury it here!"

'_Jaune, we're fighting it now! Do whatever you can to help!'_

'_**Got it! Disorient it! Keep moving, don't stop!'**_

The "room" inside the mine was large enough for them to move freely, even with the giant Wyvern there with them. Jaune started to run around the Wyvern, catching its attention as the first person to appear from the mist. Weiss decided to join him, following him, her speed and size giving her an advantage in movement speed compared to Jaune. The rest of Team RWBY immediately started copying their movements, all of them running in different directions, with Blake even using Gambol Shroud as a means to swing through the air.

The Grimm started to track them, but kept diverting its attention to someone else as all of them were dashing about. It tried snapping at Blake, before Yang launched a shell into its face. Turning to Yang, gave Weiss enough time to slash its hind legs. The Wyvern watched as all of them kept moving then stopped trying to track them.

Spreading its wings, black goo started to fall from the wings onto the ground. Around the Wyvern, it had made at least eight puddles that started to grow as more and more black goop was poured into it. Each small pool that spilled summoned a Grimm, only a matter of seconds passed before Weiss could see Beowolf claws and Ursa bodies pulling themselves out of the black pools. Other pools had Sabyrs and Centinels coming out from them.

Weiss noted in surprise, "The Ursa and Beowolves aren't supposed to be here! This thing can summon any Grimm?''

Before they could finish pulling themselves up, Jaune cut through the arm of the Beowolf, dropping them back into the goop from where they came. Before he could get to the Ursa, it had finished pulling itself out. Apart from that, another Beowolf spawned from the other pools of darkness. It didn't take long before the rest of Team RWBY joined in on the fight.

The Wyvern focused on Weiss as she was the closest to it, its claws fell near her. Weiss used her glyphs to jump back, taking notice of her aura levels. Jaune had left her at full, but she doubted he could no longer amplify her aura while her summon housed him.

She scanned the area, seeing the wall of solid stone behind her, an idea coming to mind. Nodding at the leader, she planted herself firmly in front of the wall, hoping her idea would pay off.

The Wyvern charged at Weiss, her own body not moving. She waited until the last moment and summoned a gravity glyph under her feet, launching her upwards while getting her to safety. Meanwhile, the Wyvern crashed into the cavern itself, shaking several rocks of dust, but not dislodging them from their locations.

If a single one of the large stones with dust hit the floor with anything more than a light tap, the whole mine could explode.

Weiss had landed on another white glyph in midair and jumped towards more glyphs she made, aiming herself towards the group. Blake and Yang immediately jumped into the fight against the smaller Grimm, while the Wyvern still leaked out darkness which in turn summoned more Grimm.

Both Ruby and herself had been left with dealing with the Wyvern. She could see the figure of Jaune running along the area, slicing the Wyvern and other Grimm alike as he went. The cuts he made at its hind legs caused the Wyvern to immediately focus on whatever was hurting it.

Using her glyphs, her lunge forward took her straight towards their enemy, ready for her assault. Mysternaster flew in short arcs as she swung at it, slashing the Wyvern's head. With her graceful positioning, she quickly used another glyph to jump over the wyvern, lashing out at the top of its head as well as anywhere else she could reach. Before the Wyvern could react, another glyph shot Weiss away from its grasp, Mysternaster giving it another "gift" around its neck. Once more, she was between the wyvern and the cavern walls.

The Wyvern seemed to focus its rage on her from Weiss's rush, turning to face its attacker. Once more charging again, this time opening its mouth to devour the Huntress.

No glyph was summoned this time.

Weiss knew she could trust her partner and like always she pulled through. A flurry of roses overtook her, carrying her over the Wyvern, giving them easier access to counterattack. The wyvern roared out in pain as Weiss and Ruby both slashed their weapons at the exposed backside of the dragon. The Wyvern had decided to attack using its tail, but that was short-lived as another roar of pain shook the cave. Weiss didn't need to turn to see what was holding the tail. She could hear the one responsible.

'_**Weiss move! I'll catch its attention!'**_

The Wyvern snapped its head around to face the Knight, his sword of pure aura currently encased inside the tail. As it tried freeing its tail, Jaune's sword held, the sword partly cutting the tail. Seeing what was happening, Jaune dragged the sword to the tail's end, splitting the tail into two. Their leader took the chance and rose-petaled her way into cutting distance.

Just like with Jaune's sword, there was a shriek as the Wyvern felt pain, Ruby's scythe cutting into just skin again. The goop that was falling from the wings stopped.

By this time, whatever it had summoned was already being killed by Yang and Blake, causing the Wyvern to be the sole target of everyone there.

The wings retreated from their spread-out position, instead, the Wyvern attacked them with its claws. The tail came around, trying to smash the Huntresses down. Moving out of the way, each of the Huntresses focused on the Wyvern.

"Its claws move too much! We'll get tired long before it stops attacking us!" shouted Weiss.

"White Flower!" called out Ruby.

Immediately, Weiss summoned a glyph of ice in front of Ruby's Crescent Rose. She could hear the loud snap of Ruby's shots as she pulled the bolt, chambering another round. Even though they had spent time apart, it almost seemed second nature to fight alongside her team again. Blake, Yang and Jaune all cleared out of the way, giving Ruby all the chances she could hope so.

Crescent Rose's icy bullets coated the Wyvern's legs and wings, slowing it down. Using the confusion of Ruby's attack, Blake, Yang, and Jaune charged the wyvern. Blake took to cutting where she could, Yang aimed for where the joints would be located in most enemies and like Blake, Jaune slashed at whatever skin he could. The constant flurry of attacks caused the Wyvern to start throwing its body around indiscriminately.

In its thrashing, its head and tail started to swing wildly. For Yang and Blake, it wasn't a problem as both of them jumped back. However, for one Knight, he chose to raise his shield out of reflex. He stood at the ready, almost as if he was certain a giant tail could just be deflected that easily. A shining glyph appeared under him and with it he vanished, getting transported next to Weiss, who had another glyph with her.

'_Did you really try to shield a giant dragon tail?_'

The familiar hand behind his head told her the whole truth.

'_**It was on reflex, I swear!'**_

'_If you're going to be putting up your shield, then shield me! I have an idea on how to keep it here!'_

He seemed to hesitate slightly, almost like he was thinking about something. It took a moment, but Jaune nodded and stood in front of Weiss, keeping an eye on the Wyvern's own flailing body. He noticed that all the "damage" that the three Hunters had made was nothing but skin deep.

The Wyvern's body seemed to be leaking. The tail that Jaune had previously split, was fully combined once more, the tail dripping in the ooze that had summoned the other Grimm. Just like before, the tail came for them.

This time, Jaune pulled Weiss down, hiding them both under his shield at just the right angle so the tail's momentum caused it to sweep past them, their position low enough so the tail grazed the shield, and bounced off, not hitting either one. Thanks to that extra moment of concentration, Weiss got enough time to summon all the glyphs she needed.

Myrnaster's dust chambers started to spin, her dust changing to the earth dust. It would take up a good portion of aura and dust, but her idea would certainly hold the Wyvern, she hoped.

Several large glyphs were summoned on the top of the cavern, each one hanging at set intervals before all of them turned green. Each one was positioned in a way to avoid any and all dust deposits.

From each one of the glyphs came a large pillar of earth, shooting into the ground and pinning down a certain part of the Wyvern. It only took seconds but soon several pillars held it down. Ruby noticed the immediate dangers, the damage that the girls made was repairing itself.

"Girls, Weiss pinned it down, we need to go!"

All of them ran for the entrance they had arrived from. Yang's semblance started to shine in her hair, revealing her plan on clearing the path. The Wyvern's struggling body caused the mine to crumble more over their heads, a few of the rocks from the roof falling over them. Thankfully the rocks that fell were only small boulders and not dust.

Unfortunately for them, the boulders fell in front of the already sealed entrance, blocking their exit even more. Even Yang seemed doubtful she could blow it open. Weiss noticed that she stared at Ember Celica then up at the dust in the cave, shaking her head.

They were all left trapped in the room with the Wyvern, which was still flailing around inside. The cavern shook worse as the Wyvern slammed into the rocks once more, burning and freezing itself as the dust exploded in its rampage. Some of the falling dust landed near the girls, shocking Weiss and leaving Blake to feel some heat from a small dust crystal exploding near them. As more of the roof started to fall, the dust started to fall more frequently. This caused the whole team to look up, their attention focused on dodging the incoming dust. Watching the crumbling roof was a mistake.

The Grimm Wyvern threw out its tail in its thrashing about, this time catching Yang, Weiss, and Jaune in the attack. The other two barely noticed in time, Blake had used her clone to propel herself at the last second while Ruby burst into petals, coming together after the tail had already passed her. The brawler, the Heiress, and the Knight crashed into the wall of the mine.

Weiss's body felt much colder suddenly, her back and torso felt like she had laid down on a bed of nails. Her head was spinning uncontrollably. She recognized the tale-tell signs of her aura no longer supporting her.

Her vision still unfocused, Weiss examined the field, watching Yang charge towards the battle, her own body seemingly undamaged. That meant that at least her aura withstood the damage. Meanwhile, she could see Jaune stumbling out of the cavern wall himself, his own voice sounding chipper in this not chipper time.

'_**Weiss, good news, I found a closer way out… Get the others out, I'll run distraction!'**_

Shaking his head he rushed back into the fray, trying to stop any and all dust crystals from hitting the floor. While the smaller ones wouldn't do much, the bigger ones that could be set off wouldn't be tested on durability.

Jaune dived for whatever crystal he could get, then placed it gently on the floor before moving on. Occasionally, his sword found Grimm resistance, but that was short-lived as he hurried along.

Both Yang and Blake kept to themselves, constantly switching opponents in order to utilize their strengths. Ruby was collecting her thoughts on one side of the cavern, her silver eyes sparking to life once more.

Ruby examined the battlefield: everyone in danger, each one of them fighting what seemed to be a losing battle, then she saw Weiss's uniform stained with red. Grimm was focusing on her too as she started to shout at them, "Let's go! We need to retreat!" Ruby's eyes shone and with it came the overbearing light.

Weiss shook her head as the light blinded her momentarily. Each one of the lower level Grimm was petrified and crumbled into dust, meanwhile the Grimm Wyvern roared as the Grimm had been petrified up to its head, but was still very much alive. It's struggles started to crack the stone, cutting whatever time they would have short. Yang took the chance and unleashed her semblance, her hair no longer shimmering gold, but instead looked more like a blazing fire. With a blast of her gauntlets, Yang propelled herself forward. Using all the strength she had, she landed the strongest punch she could on the Wyvern, possibly knocking it out. All she could tell was that the Wyvern just fell back, but didn't disappear like Grimm did when killed. Weiss could hear Yang's concerned tone as she stared at her robot arm, "That was tougher than I thought it would be… Hopefully I didn't break it."

Ruby fell to her knees, her silver eyes losing fading back into a duller silver. It seemed that using her silver eyes still took too much out of her. While Yang rushed to her fallen sister they noticed a very recognizable summon was closer to her.

'_Jaune! Grab Ruby and let's go!'_

Between the Brawler and the Knight, Jaune was much closer in distance so him getting to Ruby first was good. Yang pushed herself to collect Ruby, until she noticed that Jaune was already carrying her bridal style, making his way over to them as fast as possible.

Weiss took the lead, standing next to the hole that their flight had made.

"Over here! We need to go now!" she shouted.

Blake immediately swung over to Weiss, noticing one of Weiss's hands holding onto the cavern wall for more than signaling the group. Her breaths were slightly ragged, a small mist of breath being exhaled. The others swiftly joined them, Weiss moving ahead of them, her weapon firmly grasped in her hand. A new formation was made, Weiss swinging Mysternaster as other Grimm got in their way, Blake and Yang were in the middle of the pack, and Jaune was bringing up the rear with Ruby in his arms.

The path they were running on led them up into another opening of the mine, During this time, several other Grimm seemed to burst out of the cavern walls. Weiss, having not much in defenses at the time, kept herself focused on offense, slashing at anything Grimm shaped. Blake let Gambol Shroud's pistol form bark as she clipped any Grimm advances towards Weiss. Her rapid lunges at Grimm caused all the Grimm to focus on the ex-heiress rather than the larger group coming behind her.

With the cold of the cavern, her body stopped reacting as effectively. Her body moved slower and with it, her own running pace stalled. It would have been okay, if not for the Manticore that released a fireball at her. Weiss, unable to react in time, was thrown back as the fireball hit her. Blake had focused on ending Grimm, her own reaction slowing down.

She flew into a cloud of blond hair, arms catching her in midair, the action letting Blake take the front of the formation. With both their weakened teammates in hand, the three of them kept their pace. As they ran towards the exit, Weiss shivered.

"Stay strong Weiss…" Yang whispered.

A silent gasp was her answer. Her clothes slightly charred, Weiss could feel her body not cooperating with her.

The constant movement allowed Ruby to wake up, taking her a moment to look around, "What happened?" She noticed the moving cave and pieced what had happened together. "Are we leaving?"

Yang heard her little sister, and in a fit of reassurance, starting to "brag", both her hands still busy with holding Weiss, "Yeah! I punched the dragon out and now we're going to take our bullhead home! You know nothing beats team RWBY!"

Ruby smiled slightly as she shook her head clear from any grogginess. She tapped the Jaune summons to let her go, her feet quickly finding the strength to keep up with the other members of their team. Blake opened fire on any Grimm that threatened to ambush their convoy. Each step they took led them to higher and higher ground than before.

Ruby rushed forward to help with Blake's dispatching, occasionally looking behind them seeing Jaune forcefully push Grimm back with Crocea Mors. The summon always managed to keep up with them though. The team pushed their way out, leading them to a snow-covered slope of the mine.

Yang looked at the slope, eyeing their bullhead on the bottom of the mine. "How are we getting down? Can't really blast off with Weiss in this state."

Blake was scanning the area for anything that she could connect Gambol Shroud to. Ruby was scanning the area for anything they could use. The roars of the Grimm were getting closer. The small reaper decided quickly, using her semblance to grab the other members of the team and glide over snow heading towards the bullhead.

The bulky stream of petals flew over their obstacles, their destination was in view. Even with the fireballs that the Manticores threw at them, the petals dodged the attacks. Everything seemed to be working out until Ruby's own aura vanished before they could reach the bullhead.

Thanks to that, all four of them tumbled out of the petal storm and rolled the rest of the way down. Blake recovered quickly, launching Gambol Shroud out to latch onto the bullhead. Ruby shot Crescent Rose, throwing her into the air and avoiding bouncing off the snow. Yang was forced to brace herself in order to protect the auraless Weiss. Both girls landed against the rock and ground hidden under the snow.

Yang's own aura shimmered but strained to keep itself up. Weiss could feel the bruises and cuts from her own fall. Yang straightened herself up slowly, immediately helping the injured Weiss.

Ruby and Blake started to fire at whatever Grimm they could see, buying the other two time to jump in. Ruby's own shots started to falter, seeing how her aura break made her dizzy. Once they boarded, all four of them took off towards Atlas, all of them trying to catch their breath.

Blake looked out the opening, back at the mine, "That could have gone so much better." Yang scoffed, trying to regain whatever aura remained together, "Understatement of the day."

Back in Atlas, Team RWBY immediately reported to Ironwood.

"This is worse than we expected... " Ironwood muttered. He paced around his office, his hand slowly rubbing his chin in thought.

"If we allow that Grimm time, then it'll amass an army in no time!" His eyes roamed over to Winter, "Winter, have a team keep that mine under constant surveillance. That thing, it may have been intentional by Salem. No one goes in, but if any Grimm comes out, tell the team to kill on sight. We'll need other teams ready to be on standby to switch out every 8 hours." Winter saluted the General and left his office, intent on following out orders.

Ruby was about to say something before Ironwood cut her off, "Team RWBY, you all have done enough in this regard. Take the time and rest. As much as it pains me, for now, you all are banned from taking on any missions having to do with this Wyvern. All of you came back disheveled and three without Aura. I can't risk any more fine Huntresses to fall thanks to Salem."

Ruby was about to open her mouth to retort, but Ironwood shook his head, "You have done your duty well Ms. Rose, you cleared out the mine and confirmed exactly where the largest threat is. Take solace in the knowledge that you all went above and beyond your own mission and I applaud you all for it. Now take a break, you girls must be exhausted." The entire team nodded and left the room, all of them ready for the night.

Weiss was led over to the room by her team, carefully keeping her steady as she wobbled left and right. Once reaching their room, Weiss heard the girls' plan to go shower and get some rest. Weiss had other plans. With her body in so much pain, she desperately wanted rest. She just wanted her bed. Everything else could wait.

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys! Hoped you liked the chapter! While working on the chapter I had an idea that leaned more on comedy and thus decided against it, but I finished said idea and made it it's own thing as an omake! Hopefully, you enjoy these, I'll keep working on KoS, hopefully getting a more constant update going!**

* * *

Omake: Another Way Down

* * *

Jaune and most of team RWBY kept their pace, moving carefully through the tunnels of the cavern. Weiss was carried by Yang and Ruby was balanced between his two arms, her own silver eyes having tired her out. Blake kept any Centinels from the group as she weaved in and out of the way of their attacks. With each bark of Gambol Shroud's barrel, she ensured that the team could keep their pace. It didn't take long before they reached the outside of the mines, the cold winds greeting them with its icy caress.

Yang was the first to speak, "Anyone got any ideas on how to get down from here? Cause that is a drop I do not wanna make."

Jaune watched the cave entrance as all the girls studied the terrain, trying to find a way down. Thankfully, Weiss had Yang put her down, her own struggles letting her at least stand. Ruby was looking over the cliff, pulling out her own scroll to gauge her aura. Jaune noticed the Grimm were starting to come out.

So Jaune raised his shield in defense of the girls. If he could buy them enough time to escape then he would. As he raised his shield, he remembered how much easier it was for them to work around the Grimm hordes with his shield extended out. That's when he got a bright idea.

"_**Weiss do you trust me?"**_

'_What are you planning Jaune?'_

Jaune had had some terrible ideas in the past. Apparently faking his way into Beacon, trying to court her with that damn guitar, hell even stealing the bullhead that got them to Atlas was horrible. Yet none of them compared to right now.

All she heard was '_**Hang on!' **_

Jaune had pushed all of team RWBY off the cliff, surprising all of them. Ruby was quick to react though, turning into petals once more, taking Yang who was the only person close enough to touch the little reaper. Meanwhile, Blake and Weiss felt gravity's embrace and started to fall. Weiss closed her eyes, bracing herself for the impact, except the impact was soft? Why could she feel the wind in her hair now? When she opened her eyes once more, she was gliding down the slope with Blake hanging onto their "vehicle". She looked down at what was holding them, only to see Jaune's shield facing down and Jaune himself looking somewhat excited. If she had any doubt about his mood, his own thoughts confirmed it.

'_**This is actually working! Awesome!'**_

'_You dolt! How are you having fun at a time like this?!'_

His face full of elation was the contradiction to Blake's and her own face. The sane ones in this situation were worried about what was going to happen as they snowboarded down the cliff in their makeshift sled. Sane had been the right word apparently as Jaune had picked up her side of the shield and moved them left, almost like he was enjoying this! Blake's fingers were essentially melded onto the shield, she held the damn thing so tightly.

'_Why are you trying to kill us Jaune?!'_

'_**This way the only way I could think of that helped us escape the Grimm!'**_

'_If this kills us, I swear I will haunt you forever Arc!'_

'_**Help me steer then!'**_

'_What are you, crazy? What makes you think I know anything about this?'_

'_**Tell Blake to pull up her side!'**_

Despite not wanting to, Jaune leaning over to her caused the entire shield to move, so she reacted. "Blake! Pull up the shield!"

Blake raised her eyebrows so high, they threatened to fly off her face. Staring into Weiss's ice blue eyes she relented almost a bit too quickly. She pulled up the shield, causing the entire trio to glide gracefully as they avoided another patch of rocks, keeping the shield on the white powder. Weiss could see the orange streak of petals as they flew ahead of them, leading them but not by much. Then she heard an even worse idea.

'_**I bet we can reach the bullhead before them!'**_

If her hand reached her face any faster, she swore whatever little aura she had would have broken once more. In what was seemingly a life or death situation, he thought it was a good idea to race?

'_**Weiss, can you give us a boost with your wind dust?'**_

Weiss fell silent out of the sheer shock of stupidity.


	7. Cold Atlas, Warm Ansel II

Weiss's body was crying out for rest as her muscles were forced towards their room. The mission had gone so well on paper, but so horribly wrong in actuality. The stupid Wyvern wasn't really hurt by anything they did, yet one wrong move had shattered her own aura.

As her hands raised to take off her outfit, her arms failed to cooperate instead, a numbing feeling greeted her. The second she stopped walking, her legs felt like lead. Her eyelids were close to shutting themselves off, yet she couldn't blame them. She desperately wanted some form of rest after what had happened.

She could feel her aura barely starting to come back, slowly creeping into her muscles to aid their recovery. It was too little to do much, but that was the only thing allowing her muscles to move without aid. If she had more, she could have asked Jaune to help. In fact, he had already tried amplifying her aura with the slim amount she had. Sadly, without more aura, Jaune couldn't amplify anything, meaning she was on her own.

Thankfully, her body cooperated enough to let her slip into the sheets of her bed, tiredly trying to snap her boots off of her own legs. Her body barely functioned, making the task of taking her boots to feel like she sparred with Yang the entire day. Deciding the task too daunting with her current condition, she shut her eyes letting her body finally get some rest. Even Myrtenaster laid on the bed with her, too tired to even put it on the desk.

* * *

Just like before, her eyes opened to reveal her old room once more. Her ailments gone, she looked at herself. Her old attire confirmed that she was in the same place as the last time she saw Jaune. Taking a deep breath, she rose from the bed. If memory served her right, then the front door of this so-called "mansion" would be open and Ansel would be on the other side. That sunny little village in the outskirts of Vale. But more importantly, Jaune would be on the other side.

Opening the door, she ignored the feeling of isolation her cage would always give her. The cold empty feeling still weighed on her, but it didn't seem as depressing as before. She watched as halls passed, door after door until she saw the staircase that would be her way out. She pushed herself forward, turning her pace into a brisk walk. Taking the stairs two at a time while descending, she nearly made it out into the plains of Ansel as she stopped.

She stared at the small town, trying to save the memories of the town into her head. This time upon taking the step out of the Schnee Mansion, she felt the same as before. She closed her eyes, basking in the sun's warmth, hearing the lively sounds of the people, friends, and family alike chatting or laughing. The air was filled with the smells of nature. The soft scent of the earth, of pine trees, and a subtle hint of recently baked pastries. She reveled in it all.

As she opened her eyes, she could see the mismatched houses, some made from lumber, others with more recent architecture, all of them colored in bright, tasteful colors. She smiled faintly, thinking it insane how she missed this town. She had never lived or even seen these houses in her life. Yet somehow, it was great. Here, there was no politics, no agendas, no unlying reason for anything. Everyone was free to do as they wished. The warmth of the town was more than just the sun kissing her skin. How she wished she could feel that in Atlas.

Much like last time, she moved towards the outskirts of the town, towards a single tall oak tree that overlooked the lake. That's where Jaune was last time. He had helped comfort her last time, she needed to do the same for him as well.

Something about him recently called her attention, but he wouldn't say anything. Going around the market, not wanting to bump into anyone, Weiss made her way to that tree they talked under last time. She rushed past the market, only to see a familiar statue. It was the statue that was in the front of Beacon's lawn, the statue that was erected for heroes of the Faunus wars, and in front of it was Jaune.

He stood tall, looking at the man in the statue, this time his armor and Crocea Mors were with him. The only difference was that it wasn't his armor from Atlas or from the house in Mistral. He looked exactly the same as he did when they attended Beacon. She walked around him to look at him and noticed his face was downtrodden.

Carefully making her way over, Weiss examined the statue alongside him. It was the statue of the Great King of Vale, the man who had led the armies through the Faunus Wars. He stood tall, his marble eyes looking forward with his sword held high above his head. It was a statue that she had examined in Beacon, but never really paid much attention to. It seemed more like a memorial to the fallen heroes of the time. So why was Jaune so interested in it?

"Jaune?" she spoke softly.

With a small jump, she could tell he wasn't expecting her. She could hear him take a deep breath, his voice almost as soft as hers, "Hi Weiss…"

"Are you okay? What are you doing here?" she questioned the blond Knight.

"Promise you won't laugh?" he asked.

If something was troubling him, then she had to listen. After all, he had done the same for her. Without knowing what she was supposed to do, she nodded. Clearly it was something that weighed on his mind.

His voice cracked slightly as he looked into her eyes. "I'm scared, Weiss… I don't know what to do. This mission just showed me how useless I can be right now. I had to wait until you figured out how to summon me. I wanted to be a hero, but now? I feel like I let everyone down…"

Weiss grabbed and held his hand, hoping she could deliver the same kind of warmth he had shown her. "Jaune, you managed to save me, remember? Isn't that enough? You said you were a hero because you saved me from that cave."

Jaune nodded his head, putting his hand over Weiss's, "I did…"

His hand then gripped hers. His frown still remained on his face.

"So then why do I feel like I failed? Arcs were heroes, their names are known in history, some of them were even great leaders! Meanwhile, all I could do was save one person."

His head turned back to the statue in front of them, "I don't know Weiss… Even great-grandpa Arc was amazing."

That caught Weiss's attention, "What do you mean Jaune?"

Jaune slowly pulled his right arm free from her grasp and pulled out Crocea Mors from its sheath. It looked as new as the day it had to be forged. His hands moved around the weapon expertly, the training he must have done with it so obvious. The swing of the blade seemed so familiar, the way it shone was almost inspiring. Weiss knew she had seen it before, not with Jaune, but somewhere else.

As the gears turned in her head, she looked at Jaune. With a smile, he turned his attention back to the statue in front of them. Turning her own head towards the statue, she noticed the weapon. The sword was the same shape, as most swords are. The grips were similar and only when she noticed the sheath on the man's hip did she manage to piece it together. She recognized the Arc symbol that was on both sheaths. "Your great-grandpa was the Great King of Vale?!"

Jaune nodded and smiled slightly, "Yep, that's great-grandpa Arc, the man, the leader of men, and the legendary warrior. When faced with a legacy like that, how could I compare? He saved all of Vale by ending the war before it could cost innocent lives. My grandpa was a proud Hunter, saving countless lives and vanisher of Grimm. Even my dad is a great Hunter! All of them warriors! All of them heroes… Is it strange that I wanted to be one too?"

"No…" Weiss whispered, more to herself than to him.

All this time and Jaune had been hiding this? No, most likely not hiding, just not willing to share. It was strange, she had thought of Jaune as a stupid dolt that was steadily improving from his days of Beacon. He had arrived at Beacon with no training and no aura, yet he was determined to be the best he could be for the sake of his own name. He was woefully unprepared for what came next. Though, somehow it never stopped him.

Yet now, it seemed like she could understand his desire. After all, wasn't living up to her own name the whole reason she herself had become a Huntress?

"Well you are a hero Jaune, or at least you're my hero. Just because you saved one person, doesn't mean that you aren't a hero. You should be happy knowing that fact. Just like you said, I'm only here now because you paid the price. So for that, I want to thank you."

Jaune smiled at her, "Thank you, Weiss, that means more than you think. I'm just glad I made a difference in someone's life."

Weiss nodded. He was still "alive" in a sense. So long as she could summon him, he could continue to do more and more. It may have not been ideal, but it's something they could do. All she needed to do was to learn how to summon him properly.

With a small smirk, Weiss's hand turned the blond around to face him, "Besides, who says you're done?"

This caught Jaune's attention, his confused face trying to catch her pale blue eyes.

"Your story hasn't ended yet. Even if other people don't acknowledge it, you're still here. If I can summon you, then you can save many more people. Whether we like it or not, we're a team now. What's to say we can't make our dreams come true?"

Jaune smiled widely, sheathing Crocea Mors back before his hand started to fidget with his own hair. "Weiss, where are you going with this?"

Weiss rolled her eyes before meeting his own blue eyes, "I wasn't kidding during that mission. You remember when I asked you if you wanted to shield something to shield me?"

She saw the knight nod his head, his own expression curious. Without hesitation, her arm stretched out in front of her palm facing up. "I'm dead serious about that. Jaune Arc, will you be my shield?"

Her eyes gazed at his armor and then shook her head, "No, not my shield. My Knight."

Jaune looked at her hand, then back into her eyes. She could see him searching for any lie or falsehood in her eyes. Once he was satisfied with his answer he pulled Crocea Mors into his hands and slipped the shield onto his gauntlet. He extended the shield, giving him a more knightly look.

The tall knight had the biggest smile plastered on his face. He then kneeled, taking her hand in his and placing the back of her hand against his forehead. Weiss's eyes widened as he did. What was he doing?

"Of course I'll be your knight, Weiss Schnee." His attention quickly went to the ground as the gears in his head started to turn. He started to laugh, his tone now jovial compared to his earlier tone. She started to feel that comforting warmth once more. With his goofy smile plastered on his face, he spoke once more.

"I think I finally got the name. I'll leave myself in your hands, but we work as partners right?" Weiss took a deep breath, her entire body more relaxed than ever. "Of course Jaune."

"Then I guess from now on, you can call me the Knight of Schnee."

She couldn't believe what Jaune had just said. Her own voice managed to utter the title for herself, "The Knight of Schnee…"

Given what they were going through, it made sense. Then why was her heart beating so rapidly?


	8. Coffee and Knight

**Thank you all for following this story so much! Its gotten over 100 favorites and almost 200 follows! Thank you all very much! **

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The following morning, Weiss woke up somewhat tired, her own aura barely healing up the mission's wounds. She could feel her aura pool start to fill back up again, but as of right now it was better to let herself rest. Apart from her aura, her body still felt sluggish. Compared to the exhausted she was last night her body was certainly showing an improvement.

Her head certainly wasn't making the recovery job any better. It felt like she had repeatedly smashed her head against Nora's hammer. It certainly wasn't helping her concentrate, but thankfully she was used to working with a headache. The loud snoring of the sisters on her team certainly was no picnic at night. She just hoped that Jaune could keep her distracted enough for her aura to do its job.

Speaking of which, she noticed again that Jaune wasn't helping her. In fact, she didn't feel his aura surrounding her again.

"When I see him in Ansel, he needs me to "wake" him up…" she noted.

In other words, her thoughts were her own until she brought Jaune back. It was certainly refreshing to find out, only to remember that Ozpin was currently doing the same thing to Oscar. Both Ozpin and Jaune were leaving their host alone for the time being, but at the same time Jaune would willingly come out if she were to ask him.

If this aspect of their relationship was the same, then she wondered what else could they do? She would certainly have to speak with Oscar. Hopefully, he could help her understand.

It would be helpful, especially when she needed to bring forth her Knight.

"My knight…?"

She tasted the words, feeling them out when they came out. Much like in Ansel, it sounded somewhat right. Jaune was taking the place of her normal Knight to summon, but there was a twinge of heat behind the words, a heat she wasn't really used to.

Jaune was a great ally, but nothing more than that. She had seen his rise and his fall, there was no way she could be feeling anything else towards him right?

She was not going to think like that anymore, she needed a distraction, anything to help her change the topic. Just like before, she woke up Jaune, her aura activating his own. Much like the previous morning, she could feel his aura wash over her, and with it came his voice.

"_**Morning Weiss… How are you feeling after the mission?'**_

Oh right, the mission…

'_Honestly? Everything still hurts, but I do know that I can heal from it. Right now I could use a coffee to warm myself up.'_

She could feel Jaune's smile as he shared his thoughts, somehow sharing his excitement with her.

'_**I think I know the perfect place to go! I used to go to this cafe in Mantle after I finished dropping off the kids that I was taking care of. If you want, can we head over today? I think we earned some rest for today.'**_

She nodded along, this plan of his which certainly sounded perfect. She hadn't been down in Mantle since they had arrived, she needed to see how the people lived down there as well. Mantle was part of Atlas. Atlas was her home and she wanted to see how bad the situation down in Mantle was. And if she found herself getting herself a cup of coffee, that wouldn't be a bad thing either.

'_Sounds good, Jaune. Let me get ready and we can head out.'_

She looked at her outfit, the burned parts of it clearly visible and the back of her jacket was stained in her own blood. She would have to ask Winter to remake her set of clothes for the next time she had to partake in a mission. Checking her own closet, she grabbed the only thing she had but stopped before changing. How the heck was she supposed to change, knowing that Jaune could see everything she could?

'_Jaune look away. I don't need any "help" right now.'_

Thankfully, he got the hint.

'_**Why would you… oh… oh, ok!'**_

Changing quickly, she checked the mirror once more, her gray dress once more on her. It glistened in the light, the bottom of her dress almost twinkling. She stole a quick glance at Myrtenaster, before deciding to take it with her, also taking the red scarf she had on before for the cold of Atlas.

'_It's okay now Jaune, I'm ready to go!'_

She could tell that Jaune was staring at her, a small bit of happiness sneaking out of him.

'_Yes, Jaune? Something on your mind?'_

'_**Oh! No, not a thing!'**_

That's when her fear of her own thoughts being heard by Jaune reared its ugly head, in the best way possible.

_**Beautiful…**_

She couldn't believe what she had heard from the Knight in her head. It almost sounded like he still had that crush on her from Beacon. Of course, that was absurd though, they had all gone through so much since that time, it was hard to imagine that one little detail would be consistent. Still, knowing how he felt… That was certainly different.

She didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing yet.

Weiss's scroll rang out, snapping her away from her thoughts. Winter's picture watched her from the scroll as she went to answer it. She could see Winter's face go from worried to strict as Weiss answered with a video chat. Seeing that everything was okay must have calmed her doubts, but she still asked what might have been her burning question.

"Weiss, are you okay? I heard the mission was more dangerous than expected from Ironwood."

With a quick nod, she answered, "Yes, my team and I made it out alright. Apart from a damaged outfit, I received no major injuries. My aura is already healing up everything, it'll just be a matter of time before I recover completely."

With a shadow of a smile on her face, Winter looked around before responding, "I'll see what I can do about the clothes, but take today and rest Weiss. You mustn't push yourself."

Weiss smiled brightly, "Of course, I will take the time to rest today. In fact, why don't you come with me? I was going to head into Mantle to go to a coffee shop down there."

Winter sadly waved her off, "I wish I could Weiss, unfortunately, I'm quite busy. Maybe another time?"

Weiss deflated slightly, her own voice turning somber, "Of course Winter. Another time then…"

Winter sighed and looked around once more, seeing if anyone was around. Apparently no one was since she brought the scroll closer to her and basically whispered into it, "Trust me Weiss, tomorrow we can speak with one another after your training. I just need to finish a couple of things on my end. Go enjoy your coffee."

With that the call ended, leaving Weiss alone. Or as alone as she could be in the situation. She took a deep breath and looked at the mirror once more, seeing herself alone.

Yet Jaune tried to comfort her, _**'Weiss? We still going out for that coffee? I guarantee that it'll make you feel better!'**_

Then he quickly caught something in his own words.

'_**Not like a date Weiss, just as friends!'**_

His little mess-up did bring a slight smile back to her face.

"Yeah, let's go get the coffee."

Setting down in Mantle, Weiss looked around the area, seeing the tall buildings the various grays and more bland colors of the buildings. Each piece of the city was industrial, nothing much standing out. A few cars and trucks passed them by as Jaune was acting as her guide.

Left unsaid was the fact that Weiss knew the area, being a native of Atlas herself. Knowing the main streets of Mantle wasn't anything new to her, but Jaune's energy seemed almost too eager to tell him the truth.

'_**And that tree over there is where one of the kids liked to hide part of his lunch. He just didn't like the fact that his mom gave him an apple once. Though the way he planted it, it may become an apple tree sometime later.'**_

'_And here I thought we were coming this way in order to escape work, not talk about the missions we took? Or well in your case taking care of the children.'_

Jaune laughed, his voice coming out with a faux annoyance, _**'Hey those kids are fun! You should take that mission sometime! It's not as easy as I'm making it sound!'**_

Weiss scoffed, "_Maybe it's no problem for you since you can think like them?'_

Her comment earned her a small gasp from the Knight.

'_**Did the Ice Queen just make a joke?'**_

Weiss's face turned bright red as she spoke up in her own mind to defend herself, _'I can tell a joke! Gods, you're just like Yang! It's not my fault that you can't enjoy a well-crafted joke!'_

Her response was laughter from the Knight in her head. She rolled her eyes and pressed on, the sounds of laughter ringing through her ears.

'_You're lucky I can't summon you yet…'_

His support was ringing a bit hollow as he assured her between fits of laughter.

'_**You'll get the hang of it soon. Who knows? Maybe the idea will strike you when you least expect it!'**_

Lost somewhere in his translation was the fact that she wasn't doubting herself, but at the same time, it seemed sarcasm didn't fully translate in her head. Yet his words still hung onto her.

'_Thank you Jaune, I'll be sure to keep that in mind.'_

'_**Not like you can keep it in my head right? Ooh, take a left here!'**_

Weiss ended up following the directions, leading her to a small location off the main roads. The cafe was such a small place, the brown-reddish hue apparent on much of the walls like the rest of the buildings. A small awning hung in place, giving the few tables outside some shade from the sun. Inside, the walls were the same color as the walls outside, with a few tables scattered inside, obviously giving the people inside more legroom to enjoy their beverages. It seemed like the cafe provided comfort over maximizing profits. It was small, yet homely. With a single glance, she could see why Jaune liked the place.

Crossing the street to get into the building, she could see several eyes staring at her, some with admiration and some with possible envy? It wasn't until the girl at the counter started to have stars in her eyes that Weiss started to connect the dots.

'_They just see me as a Schnee…'_

For some reason, Jaune decided to be a ray of sunshine once more, his warmth reaching her.

'_**They shouldn't, you're more than a Schnee, you're Weiss.'**_

Somehow, that little comment caught her attention. That sounded so much like him.

A small blond girl was standing behind the counter, her own green eyes staring at her, both of them hidden behind her own green highlighted bangs, "Miss Schnee! How can I help you?"

Weiss quickly realized that the girl was star struck with her. She didn't even bother looking at the coffee options on the menu above her. Her normal order would suffice, after all, she hardly deviated from her go-to order. "Can I get a black coffee, with two sugars."

'_**Ask for the Arc special.' **_

The way he spoke resembled how one would speak when whispering, but Jaune was in her head. The barista would never hear him even if he would have shouted at the top of his lungs. So why try "whispering"? There was a more important question than that though.

'_How do you have your own drink?'_

She could feel Jaune's embarrassment, his voice hesitating to answer her quickly.

'_**I may come here a lot…'**_

Weiss cleared her throat, catching the young girl's attention. She could see the girls nametag, "Ms. Mint? Instead of that order, can I get the Arc special?"

The girl stopped immediately and her smile seemed to grow, "Of course! Anything for Mr. Arc's girlfriend! I haven't seen him in a while! Is he doing okay?"

'_**W**__h__**a**__t__**?**__!__**' **_The two exclaimed.

Weiss quickly rushed to amend the situation, "We're not together! I'm just friends with Jaune Arc!"

Mint quickly hid her face, the red on it was clearly showing, "I'm so sorry Ms. Schnee!"

Her bangs still hid her face, her hands flying over all of the equipment, hastily making the order she was given.

"No one other than him orders that so for someone to know about the drink made me think you two were pretty close! I'm so sorry!"

She quickly made the coffee and handed it to Weiss, not even bothering to charge her in favor of not looking Weiss in the eye anymore. Her embarrassment wasn't hard to see. Weiss put down the appropriate amount for the coffee and walked outside once more, taking a small sip of the coffee she was given.

She could feel a small bit of warmth from Jaune, _**'So you consider us friends Weiss?'**_

'_Of course, I do… Why did you ever think I didn't?'_

'_**Maybe the stuff before the dance at Beacon?'**_

'_Jaune, that seems like ages ago now. We both have changed, and honestly? You're not the same person, and neither am I.'_

Jaune was strangely quiet after her statement, but Weiss paid it no mind as she drank from the Arc special she had ordered.

The taste of slightly bitter coffee barely hit her, as most of it was overwhelmed with chocolate, caramel, a dash of whipped cream, and a hint of vanilla. It was different than what she usually got, but still, it wasn't unpleasant. Yet she could feel Jaune's contentment with the drink.

'_**Mmmm…'**_

She doubted that hum of satisfaction was voluntary, but it still rang in her ears much like the laughter had before. A small smile broke out, Weiss quickly deciding on her next course of action.

'_Taste good?' _she lightly teased the poor Knight. She could feel the shock coming from Jaune, envisioning his eyes practically bulging out of his face.

'_**Shit… you heard that?'**_

'_Kinda hard not to when it's essentially in my ear Jaune.'_

Taking another sip, Weiss continued down the road, enjoying Jaune's reaction. No wonder Yang did it to others so much!

A small giggle slipped from Weiss as she could feel Jaune's embarrassment.

'_So how did you somehow make your own drink at a cafe?'_

Weiss didn't know if talking was a way to try to forget her teasing or if he was honestly excited to talk about his coffee creation but Jaune spared no detail.

'_**So it all started when I was talking the kids to the school, After dropping them off Cassie made a mention of that little cafe that she loved so much. So I decided, why not try it for myself? Mint's been amazing, we chatted with each other while I waited for school to let out and while she was on break. Did you know she's training to be part of the Atlas military?'**_

Immediately Weiss had more questions than possible answers.

'_Who's Cassie? How did you get that star-struck girl to talk to what was a stranger? How do you know she wants to be part of the Atlas military?'_

Nonetheless, Jaune continued his speech, his words filled with such happiness, it was almost like when Ruby was talking about Crescent Rose or cookies.

'_**So then Cassie offers me another casserole, well its more of forcing me to take another casserole. It was pretty good, though, that woman can cook!'**_

She tuned out for a bit, her mind going onto her own thoughts, _'Jaune really cares about the people here…'_

'_**Of course I do Weiss.'**_

Oh right… He can hear her thoughts.

She quickly drank a bit more of her coffee, electing to wander around the city, hearing the rest of Jaune's thoughts.

'_**Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet.'**_

'_Where did you hear that lie?'_

'_**Hey! Mom would never lie to me!'**_

Weiss had to resist the urge to laugh aloud.

'_Your mom told you that? Does it even work?'_

'_**Of course it does! That's how I made friends with Ruby and Yang!'**_

'_If I recall, Yang calls you Vomit Boy for a reason.'_

'_**We don't talk about that anymore.'**_

Weiss couldn't help but snicker.

'_Alright, then, tell me about your family. You mentioned before your great-grandpa was the old King of Vale, but what about your mom and dad? What are they like?'_

Jaune's normal warmth increased, enveloping her once more. It felt similar to when he amplified her aura, yet different. The only thing she could compare it to was when she knew team RWBY was behind her against her father. When she knew what family she belonged to.

'_**You know my dad was a hunter, but it was something he didn't want any of us following in. He was strict, stern, but he always pushed us to do what we liked not what we thought we had to do. He gave us all the choices we could ever want. He's the person that made me want to do better. He worked so hard to provide for the 10 of us… '**_

Weiss could have focused on many things. The differences between her own father and the shackles he forced on her, Winter, and now Whitley. She could have chosen to ask more of what kind of choices he let Jaune take. Maybe music had been one for Jaune, given how he had a guitar in Beacon? She could have pressed Jaune for anything else, but one question in her mind overrode all of those inquiries.

'_10 of you?!'_

'_**I'm sure I told you guys about it. I have 7 sisters, there's me, then there's mom and dad! 10 family members.'**_

He most certainly did not! She would have remembered something that big about one of her friends! How can he just casually say he has 7 sisters like it was nothing! That's when she remembered a picture frame she noticed at Saphron's house with 8 children in the photo. Part of her thought they were cousins and nieces and the like, not all brother and sisters.

'_**Mom, on the other hand, was the one who made the magic happen. I swear she could have a mind control semblance with how good she was. 8 kids, not a single one of us caused trouble or really stepped out of line. The twins played practical jokes, but nothing too bad. Poor Azul, she got roped into it sometimes.'**_

Weiss listened to him as the Knight went into detail about how he and his sisters had to try and get along together. How he had to "survive" each day against the onslaught of his sisters. It was only after a few minutes of recounting how he had to learn to dance thanks to Violet wanting to dance, but also needing a partner.

'_**Rouge thought it would be good for Violet and me to learn tap dancing together. That's when it snowballed. **_

_**Suddenly the twins didn't think that dancing was that bad and wanted to learn. It sucked for me though, all they wanted to learn was freeform breakdancing… **_

_**Saphron "realized" she needed to practice ballroom dancing for when she wanted to impress "people". Like the whole family didn't know about Terra. **_

_**Thankfully, Azul was more focused on making computer versions of us dance, but that was only one mercy from them. All of this before I turned 15 to boot!'**_

Weiss giggled as she imagined a young Jaune being passed around by his sisters, him trying his hardest to keep up with all the different dance styles. He may have fallen once or twice in her head, but at the end of the day, she found it cute.

'_**What about you? Do you have any fun stories about your family?'**_

With such a simple question, Weiss's mood soured almost immediately.

'_My family… isn't the same as yours, unfortunately. My best memories of my family were with Winter and Klein. My father, my mother, and Whitley, they aren't the best people. There's a reason why I decided to study at Beacon and not at Atlas. '_

Through their connection, Weiss could feel a twinge of guilt coming from Jaune's aura, his voice stammering. Recovering quickly though, he managed to change the topic.

'_**Well, you have team RWBY now right? Team JNOR is also part of your family if you let them. Dust knows Nora will accept another sister with her hugs.'**_

Weiss knew Jaune was trying to distract her with more happiness. It seemed to be his usual way of coping with bad emotions, and yet even though she knew what the Knight was up to, it did make her feel a bit better.

Quickly changing the topic back to Jaune, Weiss pressed him to talk once more. Anything to get the attention off of her and her family.

'_Anything else I should know about your family?_'

'_**I think you're okay Weiss, I could tell you stories of their antics, but I think that'll be something that can be done anytime. I doubt we'll meet any of them here.'**_

'_I'll keep a lookout for any blondes here in Atlas nonetheless.'_

She heard Jaune scoff silently, an air of amusement hitting her.

Weiss kept walking, slowly enjoying the scene in front of them. She could still feel her aura filling itself back up, the coffee was certainly helping.

As she walked, the cold of Mantle barely affected her. She could feel her aura refill itself, almost like something was helping it along. It was faint, but she could feel Jaune's warmth hit her once more, this time was the more familiar feeling of his semblance kicking in.

_What are you doing?' _she asked.

'_**Helping your aura refill itself? That way, you don't have to wait until tonight for your aura to be ready.'**_

'_You don't have to do that Jaune, I had no plans of using the aura today. Today was a time to rest remember?'_

'_**You can never be too sure!'**_

Weiss rolled her eyes, _'If I need more aura, I can most likely borrow yours. After all, it is inside me too.'_

Wait…

Her eyes widened as she ran towards the bullheads, throwing her coffee in the process. Borrowing aura, that was something that should be impossible for everyone, yet she had already done the impossible before. Then what was stopping her now?

'_**What's going on? Why are you running?'**_

'_Jaune! Summoning training! Get ready!'_

The bullhead taking them to Atlas sem to drag on forever, Weiss running over the events at the mine once more in her head.

'_Jaune said I put him in the Knight, but that should be impossible since our two auras should be separate, but what if they're not? If his aura is inside me, can I use it willingly? Jaune, when we were in the mine, you gave me a boost, right? Your semblance powered my aura completely right?_

'_**Yeah? You needed all your aura restored so I amplified all your aura.'**_

'_Which caused me to not use my healing aura…' _

Once they landed she bolted off the bullhead and made a beeline for the training rooms. The empty space looked the same as when she often trained with Winter. There was only a small splash of pink in the room but Weiss didn't pay any attention to it. Instead, she quickly thrust Myrtenaster into the training room floor and her summoning glyph came to life.

This time she didn't use her own but instead used her aura to push Jaune's out. When the glyph came to life, the symbols on the glyph remained the same, the Knight's blade plastered all over her glyph. Just like before though, it started to falter and crack all over. Before long, the glyph shattered completely, but surprisingly it came back, this time with a new symbol embedded in it.

Instead of the Knight's sword, a shield took its place. Weiss smiled as the Knight started to form once more. This time there was no surprise, the jeans, the upper body armor, and the white hair, all of it only proved Weiss's thoughts. She watched as the summon, no, as Jaune looked at himself, examining the new body.

Looking at him, she noticed one thing that had been missing the whole time. His eyes weren't the white void of nothing that the Knight usually had. This time, he had ocean blue eyes staring back at her. Success!

"Jaune?" uttered Nora.

Weiss immediately snapped back at the girl, not having noticed that she was even in the room. Nora quickly closed the distance between the two, her arms wrapping around her leader once more. She tore herself from him slowly, their eyes meeting. She seemed to draw a bit of comfort from the action, so Weiss didn't intervene.

"Jaune-Jaune." She noticed the hair and the small mist around Jaune, her own eyes looking at Weiss, her face starting to show a pained expression, so unlike Nora. Her eyes met his, and it didn't take long before the bomber's face sported a small smile.

Jaune looked at Weiss, a slight twinge of confusion visible on his face. Nora smiled and gave Jaune one of her big hugs, shaking him from side to side as she did. Putting him down, Weiss could see that Jaune was trying to recover. The tiny girl started to walk away, leaving them both there, a small trail of tears coming from Nora's eyes. As Nora passed her, Weiss heard Nora speak once more.

"Jaune is still around in one way or another huh?."


	9. Winter, Weiss, and Secrets

**A/N: Hope you guys are enjoying the story! Despite the premise of the story some bits and pieces of the story are still canon-compliant, so watch out for those parts. This chapter is one of those parts, but I am adding in a bit in order to make it fit with what I need for later. Let me know what you guys think!**

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Much like the other days, Weiss stood in front of Winter for their almost daily training for their summonings. This time, however, was going to be different as she had her secret weapon. She watched Winter summon her Beowolves once more, the hoard coming back to life in front of her eyes. Meanwhile, Weiss placed Myrternaster on the floor, summoning Jaune once more. Weiss watched his eyes, confirming the blue in his eyes before turning back to Winter.

"Remember Weiss, your summon needs to be as strong as it can be, but never let your summon be your only sword. Let them help, just don't rely too heavily on them. I hope you have seen someone with Mr. Arc's fighting style since you continue to summon him?"

Weiss gave a small nod, "I think my summon will surprise you today Winter."

She could hear Jaune's confidence as he turned to face the Beowolves. _**'This time the Knight won't fall!'**_

Winter gave her a quick nod, "Then show me, sister."

Both Schnees watched as the horde of Beowolves launched themselves at Weiss and Jaune. Quickly taking up a defensive position, Jaune stood shield up in front of Weiss, expanding his shield to the max and then throwing himself at the Grimm.

Grimm claws slammed against twin arcs. Their forces evened out, both parties bouncing off of each other. Though, Jaune quickly recovered and thrust his sword through one of the Beowolves, dispatching it quickly.

The knight continued with his onslaught, stunning some summons with his shield and slashing through another summoned Grimm with his sword. Even if it wasn't the real Crocea Mors, Jaune had no problems with adjusting the shield from the extended version to the normal shield version.

Jaune dodged to each of the Beowolves's jumps. For each jump, Jaune made sure to remove a part of the summon, going from cutting off limbs to cutting off their heads. Crocea Mors was singing as Jaune kept his speed up, even sometimes launching a Beowolf over his head with his shield to free up his space.

Weiss could see the confusion on Winter's face as they both watched Jaune dispatching Beowolves like a trained Huntsman. Of course, that made sense to Weiss as Jaune was indeed a Huntsman.

This confusion didn't last long as the Beowolves started to react much differently, much like Weiss had moved the knight with her mind alone, she supposed Winter was doing the same to her Beowolves.

Each one of them started to stalk Jaune like actual wolves and not only rush in. All four of them vanished at once, the mist that the summons would turn into appearing. However, it didn't just take away the Beowolves.

Be it by experience or by a trick, Winter's four Beowolves disappeared to have another glyph spawn below them and in its place stood a single Beowolf. Weiss and Jaune had to look up at the creature, only for Jaune to confirm what both of them were thinking.

'_**That thing must be like 10 feet tall! How the heck am I supposed to fight that thing fairly? Weiss, can you make me that tall?'**_

'_Considering, I would need to use your aura for the summon, no. I fear I need more practice to summon you at that size.'_

'_**Welp…'**_

Jaune quickly got into his defensive stance, the giant Beowolf roaring in his face. While this didn't intimidate the Knight, the ex-Heiress quickly pulled Myternaster out again and was about to step in to help until Winter's watchful eyes caught hers.

All it took was a simple shake of her head to indicate what she expected Weiss to do.

"This is to improve your current control over your summons. This training will be of no use if you rush in to help. They are here to help you, not the other way around. Learn to control them well, and they will be your greatest assets on the field Weiss."

The only thing was Winter didn't know it wasn't her controlling the Knight, it was Jaune. If anything, she was somewhat learning how her knight could move, but it wasn't exactly clear.

Both Schnees turned their attention to the ongoing fight between the Beowolf and the Knight. As the Beowolf lunged forward Jaune quickly put his sword away, both his arms helping push the shield up as he threw the Beowolf over his head with some difficulty. In a quick second, Jaune pulled out Crocea Mors and slashed the hind legs of the Beowolf, only for it to growl at him and stand up almost as if nothing had happened.

The Beowolf lunged at him, and Jaune reacted by instinct, pressing the button for his gravity dust. It took him a second to realize the problem and Weiss could feel Jaune's sense of panic.

'_**Shit!'**_

The shield did help mitigate the damage that the Knight took, the Beolwolves's paw launching him back. Both of the Schnees looked at Jaune in confusion.

'_Jaune, are you alright?'_

Jaune shook his head and immediately got back up. His eyes never left the Beowolf as his sword and shield stood at the ready for the next engagement.

'_Yeah, I'm fine!'_

Winter wasted no time sending the Beowolf after him again. This time, the expression on Jaune's face was different. It was confident and serious. Weiss remembered that expression from the mission they had shared. He stared at the Beowolf and nodded to himself. Weiss could hear his pep talk to himself.

'_**You got this Jaune, if I'm right I can finish this in one go.'**_

Just like the other times, Winter sent the Beowolf running towards Jaune once more. Weiss's mind raced at what they could do. Raise his shield? His sword wouldn't do much against the Beowolf without a clean cut of a vital point. So what the heck was Jaune talking about?

It didn't take long for Jaune to answer the questions she had. The shield portion of Crocea Mors flew. As in Jaune threw his shield like his mentor used to. As he threw it, he moved his body towards the Beowolf and for Weiss, everything seemed to slow down.

The shield hit the Beowolf's foot, causing it to trip and fall forward, the momentum carrying it forward. Between it and the floor stood Jaune, both hands on his blade. The Beowolf opened its jaw to try and bite at Jaune, but that didn't help. Jaune ran opposite to the Beowolf's momentum and dragged his sword from the open mouth of the Beowolf to the tail end of it, the summon's mist consuming it before it could even touch the floor.

Weiss didn't know what to say about the "plan". It was stupid, perhaps idiotic. She would have called it suicidal if Jaune wasn't already dead!

Even Winter was left speechless at Jaune's reckless plan.

Moments passed as both Schnees looked at the triumphant Knight doing a small victory dance with the passing of the summon. Even if Weiss recovered first, her first action was to look at Winter to see what she would say about the actions.

"That... that was certainly a unique tactic for your knight Weiss."

"What a strange way to compliment me, Winter," Weiss responded with a slight smile.

Seeing the smile on Weiss's face softened up Winter's own expression, her own smile forming on her lips. Winter stared at her younger sister for a few moments, letting Weiss dispel her knight back into the mist.

Weiss took a deep breath as she felt Jaune's aura mingle back with hers, her own aura feeling more guarded now.

'_Good job Jaune.'_

'_**I'm gonna be honest, I'm so glad that worked.'**_

Winter and Weiss both put their blades away, Winter striking up a conversation again.

"You've grown up quite a bit Weiss. You're not the same girl, trying to cling onto the family name."

"Ever since Beacon, I had to. Father's view of the world, no longer matched with my own. Especially recently, everything just seems much more important to me now."

Winter walked around her, watching her little sister's movements. "Whatever the case, I am glad to see you moved on. Distancing myself from the Schnee name is the most beneficial thing I have done."

Winter took her time moving towards Weiss, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. Weiss looked up to meet her sister's eyes as Winter continued.

"We can move forward without him, together. I know General Ironwood would have a place for you."

Her small smile started to grow at the thoughtfulness of her sister, but then her own team came to mind and what exactly they had been through. All the things that were hidden from them. Then her eyes started to fall, away from Winter's own.

"I would be grateful if he did…" stated Weiss. "But I'm not sure I should accept."

Eyeing the raised platform in the room, Weiss made her way to it. It was normally used to raise one training partner up to give them a higher altitude. Ironwood had mentioned it was to practice overtaking someone on the high ground, but now it was at the perfect height to be used as a chair. Weiss could hear Winter's disbelief as she sat down,

"Really?"

Weiss's attention was drawn to the floor, not wanting to face her sister. Her fingers were lacing themselves together nervously. Jaune felt the tension and tried to ease it with what he had started to call an "aura hug". It helped ever so slightly.

"It's just… Our kingdom isn't supposed to be like this. Fearful and withdrawn. We should be opening our borders to help the world, not closing them down."

Winter immediately stepped in to try and get her point across.

"We will though, once we weather the storm, we will. I know the General hasn't done everything perfectly, he's doing what he thinks is right."

So many times Weiss had heard similar things, most recently from Ozpin, and yet it always amounts to the same thing.

"Everybody thinks what they're doing is right… But usually, they're just looking out for themselves, and their secrets."

"Ironwood isn't keeping secrets, not from me."

She could remember when she thought that of people herself. She had only been a pawn in the bigger picture, training to fight against a threat she had not been privy to. It was only thanks to a magical genie that told them the truth that finally clued her in. Which just begged the question.

"Can you be sure?"

The silence that Weiss could hear between them hurt. It wasn't for the fact that Winter seemed lost for an answer, but rather it was more the realization for Weiss that Ironwood was possibly doing the same thing to Winter as Ozpin had done to her.

She hadn't expected Winter to come up to her and take her hands.

"Come with me."

Weiss gave her a quick nod and followed Winter as she led them through the halls of Atlas Academy. Winter wasn't walking particularly fast or with much hurry, but teachers and students alike both moved out of the way. Weiss noticed Winter's face was stern and uncompromising, her mask of professionalism coming out again.

"Weiss, do you remember yesterday, when I said I couldn't join you for coffee in Mantle?"

Weiss remembered it well but hardly held it against her sister. Helping run Atlas alongside Ironwood was sure to be busying work.

"I remember."

"I apologize for that, it was an action I had to do for the time being. However, I do wish to make it up to you. We can go get some coffee another time, just tell me when and I will make time."

Time with Winter sounded amazing, but the fact that they had stopped passing classrooms and started to pass more and more guards caught her attention. Weiss opened her mouth to answer, but nothing seemed to come out. Instead, she was getting questions in her head. Where was Winter taking her?

It seemed Winter noticed Weiss's concerns, her eyes flickering from the path ahead to her.

"I had to pull some strings, but I was able to get you clearance for this floor."

Before Weiss could open her mouth to ask anything, Winter immediately raised her hand, calling her to silence.

"This is the R&D department of the school/military, this is where we work on projects to aid humanity in this war against the Grimm. Or now, Salem. Most of these projects are meant to be kept close to our chest for security reasons. It's why more and more guards can be seen.

Weiss looked around the area, the whole room seemed to be painted white and was barren of any distractions other than the tables she assumed were working stations for the inventions that people would be testing or making.

She noticed that some people raised their gaze to them when the whishing of the doors announced their arrival. A quick nod from Winter sent them back to their work. People were glued to their scrolls, some muttering what seemed to be nonsense to her, but most certainly meant something.

Guards soon turned into cameras as they continued down their path, fewer and fewer people could be seen. Winter had let machines scan her fingers, her eyes, and even her tongue. As they walked, Weiss noticed that Winter took subtle glances at her, her face almost concerned.

"Weiss, I am going to show you two things, but neither must leave. You can tell your team, but that's as far as it must go."

Wiess raised an eyebrow, "More secrets?"

"You'll see why shortly."

Winter opened a door that led into a sort of lobby, the only thing inside of it was two more white doors. One held the Arc symbol on the door and the other door held some sort of snowflake. It resembled the Schnee's own symbol but was still distinct enough to be its own thing.

"What… what is this?" Weiss asked softly.

She could even feel Jaune's confusion at the two doors.

"I figured you might want to see your friend. You two seemed close."

Then Winter opened the one with the Arc symbol embedded in it. Weiss peered inside and gasped at what she saw.

Much like the rest of the area, the room was completely white. There was almost no furniture in the room. However, there was one thing that drew her attention to the middle of the room. The body of Jaune Arc was frozen inside a chamber. Only his upper body was visible, while the grayish "coffin" held him. What was left of his armor was laid out in a small table nearby. For a split second, Weiss thought she saw a woman in the chamber.

Weiss walked up to the body slowly, letting it all sink in.

'_**Whoa… My body. It seems so… unreal to see it like this.'**_

'_Is it just me, or does your body look... peaceful?'_

'_**What…?'**_

'_Your body looks like you're sleeping, almost as if I was to shake you, I could see your eyes open.'_

Jaune remained silent for a bit, Weiss waiting for a response.

'_**It does…'**_

Winter's heels clacked seemingly loud against the empty room, drawing their attention back to her. "Mr. Arc is being kept here until the time where we can move him to the Arc residence. As promised, he is being kept frozen to preserve his body so the family can do as they wish with him."

'_**They'll probably cremate the body, and place the urn in the Arc fireplace. That's what they usually do for the Arc family bodies. Helps the next generation connect with their ancestors."**_

Weiss looked over at his armor, not wanting to see the body anymore. Her hands wrapped themselves around the armor, holding it tightly. She didn't know why her fingers seemed deadlocked onto the armor pieces. All she knew was that she didn't want to see Jaune's face anymore, not in this state.

"Weiss, it's okay to miss him, he was your friend. If you like, we can incorporate his armor into a new design for you. Miss Xiao Long and Miss Belladonna both asked if they could have a piece of his armor to remember the man."

"Use his armor…? You mean, make his armor into something for me?"

'_Jaune? What do you think?'_

'_**Honestly? I would be honored if my armor could protect you.'**_

'_But-'_

'_**Weiss I'm not using it right now anyway. If we fight that Wyvern again, you'll need all the protection you can get.'**_

'_But what about…'_

'_**I know what you're going to say, Weiss. I know what you want to ask… But let's take it one step at a time ok Weiss? Right now you need better defenses.'**_

She could tell Jaune was trying to avoid the actual subject, but it was something she couldn't bear to avoid. After all, Jaune's body was dead right? Despite his peaceful appearance of sleep, Jaune Arc would not get up.

'_**Take the armor, we can figure something out later.'**_

Weiss looked at Winter and nodded, "Yes, that sounds appropriate. Maybe just give me an armor style like his, rather than using his armor. I don't think his heavy armor would help me too much if it slows down my usual fighting style."

Winter raised an eyebrow but didn't comment about Weiss's request. Tapping a few things on her scroll, she took a note of it and smiled at Weiss. "Very well, Weiss, I'll have your new outfit to you as soon as Pietro gets finished with it."

'_**Why not just use mine if you're going to have a similar style to mine?'**_

'_I'm getting armor Jaune, but taking yours is too much…'_

Weiss looked at the armor one more time, feeling saddened seeing it just laying on the table next to him. Turning to the armor's owner, she took a deep sigh and turned her gaze away from him too.

"Winter, do you think that we can leave? I would rather not see Jaune in such a way."

Winter nodded and opened the door again, leading Weiss outside to the small lobby once more. "Of course Weiss, I still need to show you one more thing before we conclude our meeting. Like before you cannot mention this to anyone outside of your team."

Winter led Weiss through the only other door, leading them to another small lobby, this time there seemed to be computers and panels of lights embedded onto the walls. The only distraction from all the computers and lights was two doors apart from the one they had just walked in from. Weiss waited for Winter to tell her anything, but she remained silent, instead only opening a door and motioning for her to go inside.

Weiss followed her sister's orders, entering the small box of a room. One of the walls, however, was not metal like the rest of the walls. Instead, it was a see-through glass, letting her see into another room. In the other room, she could see part of a small kitchen, some cabinets, and cupboards next to a strange machine. She had a feeling about what it was, she could feel it on the tip of her tongue.

That was until Winter stepped into the room, talking to the elderly woman that was there. Immediately her attention went to her. Weiss watched as Winter asked how she was while getting them both tea. Winter seemed to have a full conversation with the woman while Weiss watched from the little box up above.

She could feel Jaune's own resentment from seeing one part of the room. Weiss glanced over to the plain gray boxes, realizing it was identical to those that Jaune was placed in the other room. She even noticed that the two chambers seemed to be connected to a third point, outside of the room.

'_Jaune…?'_

'_**Sorry… It's just unsettling seeing these things again. Especially after what happened to Pyrrha."**_

'_What are you talking about? What is that machine for?'_

'_**It's for transferring aura from one body to the other… Ozpin used one to try and transfer the Fall Maiden's power to Pyrrha. Normally the powers would pass to whomever the Maiden thinks of last, but Ozpin wanted to force Pyrrha to take the powers for herself…'**_

Then Qrow's words seemed to ring in her head, "The Winter Maiden isn't exactly a spring chicken…"

"Then that woman is…"

At the moment, Winter walked back into the room, taking a spot next to Weiss.

Weiss didn't turn to Winter, only looking at the woman Winter had called Fria.

"That's the Winter Maiden."

Winter didn't react to Weiss's words, only speaking softly, almost as if she was guarding a secret in an empty room. "She could pass any day now. Until then, I'm the only person Fria is allowed to see."

The answer came to her almost immediately, due to Jaune's little tidbit. Winter was supposed to be the last person Fria was to know of… That way Winter would become the next Winter Maiden.

"Ironwood's chosen you to be the next Winter Maiden… How long have you known?"

"Since Beacon fell."

Winter seemed so sure of herself, so resolved. Was this what she meant by Ironwood not keeping secrets from her?

"He practically groomed your whole military career. Doesn't that bother you?"

Winter seemed to take a big breath before answering.

"It did at first… When the General first proposed it to me. But the more I thought about it, the more I saw it as a privilege. A chance to do some real good for Atlas.. For Remnant."

"But your destiny was chosen for you, without your input."

"Perhaps, but I'm choosing it now. I've made it my own, and I take great pride in it. That has nothing to do with Father or the General, that belongs to me."

A small smile formed on Weiss's face, **"**I guess we both had to be a bit of that, carving out our own way**."**

Winter shared the smile, almost brimming with pride for both of them.

"I suppose we have."

At that moment, Winter's scroll rang out, causing her to pull it out and open a message she had. Sent with the message was a video. It didn't take her long to pull up the video and with it came the face of one Jacques Schnee.

The prideful tone Winter had held died immediately, the next words uttered with annoyance.

"Speaking of the family name…"

"What is he doing?"

"**If I'm elected Councilman, I've made it no secret that I'll be opposing General Ironwood and his senseless embargo that is crippling all of Atlas."**

Weiss looked at the video in disbelief. He couldn't really be this in love with his profits, could he?

"**It is my belief that these measures are not only reckless but criminal. With no shipments allowed to enter or leave the kingdom, I know many are suffering and my family has been weathering the same storm as many of you. Effectively immediately, I am forced to shut down all non-essential SDC operations. If elected to office, I will make the changes necessary to fix what Ironwood has broken. I hope you ask yourself before the vote, can you trust anyone else to stop Ironwood? Will Robyn Hill be able to get your jobs back? Thank you."**

Winter's eyes stared at the screen as the video ended. Her gaze slowly rising as her arm holding the scroll returned to hold itself limply by her side.

"I think… I think Father may have just provided the spark that's going to set this Kingdom on fire."

A scroll rang out, this time being Weiss's, the notification leaving a chill passing down her spine.

**Emergency Mission: Calming the Riot**

**Team: Any**

**Status: Urgent**


End file.
